Consilience

Author: E. O. Wilson
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0804154066
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 485

Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "A dazzling journey across the sciences and humanities in search of deep laws to unite them." —The Wall Street Journal One of our greatest scientists—and the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for On Human Nature and The Ants—gives us a work of visionary importance that may be the crowning achievement of his career. In Consilience (a word that originally meant "jumping together"), Edward O. Wilson renews the Enlightenment's search for a unified theory of knowledge in disciplines that range from physics to biology, the social sciences and the humanities. Using the natural sciences as his model, Wilson forges dramatic links between fields. He explores the chemistry of the mind and the genetic bases of culture. He postulates the biological principles underlying works of art from cave-drawings to Lolita. Presenting the latest findings in prose of wonderful clarity and oratorical eloquence, and synthesizing it into a dazzling whole, Consilience is science in the path-clearing traditions of Newton, Einstein, and Richard Feynman.

Creating Consilience

Author: Edward Slingerland
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199794391
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 467

Book Description
Calls for a "consilient" or "vertically integrated" approach to the study of human mind and culture have, for the most part, been received by scholars in the humanities with either indifference or hostility. One reason for this is that consilience has often been framed as bringing the study of humanistic issues into line with the study of non-human phenomena, rather than as something to which humanists and scientists contribute equally. The other major reason that consilience has yet to catch on in the humanities is a dearth of compelling examples of the benefits of adopting a consilient approach. Creating Consilience is the product of a workshop that brought together internationally-renowned scholars from a variety of fields to address both of these issues. It includes representative pieces from workshop speakers and participants that examine how adopting such a consilient stance -- informed by cognitive science and grounded in evolutionary theory -- would concretely impact specific topics in the humanities, examining each topic in a manner that not only cuts across the humanities-natural science divide, but also across individual humanistic disciplines. By taking seriously the fact that science-humanities integration is a two-way exchange, this volume takes a new approach to bridging the cultures of science and the humanities. The editors and contributors formulate how to develop a new shared framework of consilience beyond mere interdisciplinarity, in a way that both sides can accept.

Consilience Leadership: Using Innovative Ideas from Economics, Science, and Neuropsychology to Create Breakthroughs in Leading Organizations

Author: Gary Cook
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780615140049
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
Consilience Leadership introduces business leaders to the multitude of ways that science in all its forms is helping to transform the art of leadership into the science of leadership. What do Osama Bin Laden's death, April's deadly tornados in the southern US, the "Arab Spring," and recent comments from the US Coast Guard and others about the Deepwater Disaster all have in common? They all are examples of what leaders can learn from Consilience Leadership. Cook demonstrates how lessons learned from Highly Reliable Organization theory, behavioral economics, neuroscience and other disciplines are helping us understand how to better deal with terrorism and Katrina-like disasters. You and your organization can learn to better anticipate and avoid political and other disasters by reading Gary Cook's new book.

Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential

Author: Ted Chu
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
ISBN: 1579830234
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

Book Description
For millennia, great thinkers have contemplated the meaning and purpose of human existence; but while most assumed that humanity was the end point of creation or the pinnacle of evolution, Ted Chu makes the provocative claim that the human race may in fact be a means rather than an end—that humankind will give rise to evolutionary successors. In this wide-ranging and authoritative work, Chu reexamines the question of human purpose in light of the extraordinary developments of science and technology. Arguing that a deep understanding of our place in the universe is required to navigate the magnitude of the choices that lie ahead, he surveys human wisdom from both East and West, traces the evolutionary trajectory that has led to this point, and explores the potentials emerging on the scientific frontier. The book addresses the legitimate fears and concerns of “playing God” but embraces the possibility of transcending biological forms and becoming or creating entirely new life-forms.

Consilience, Truth and the Mind of God

Author: Richard J. Di Rocco
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030018689
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This book argues that God can be found within the edifice of the scientific understanding of physics, cosmology, biology and philosophy. It is a rewarding read that asks the Big Questions which humans have pondered since the dawn of the modern human mind, including: Why and how does the universe exist? From where do the laws of physics come? How did life and mind arise from inanimate matter on Earth? Science and religion have a common interest in the answers to such questions, yet many scientists and believers have been at odds for centuries. The author and contributors present a program for moving beyond the vastly different perspectives of reality offered by science and religion. Historical proofs for the existence of God are considered in light of the possibility that the universe may be only one in an eternal multiverse that contains an infinite number of other universes. Readers will find a modification of St. Augustine’s Argument from Truth for the existence of the necessary, self-sufficient being commonly referred to as God. This book is suited to all with an interest in the crossing points of science and religion, providing much food for thought and reflection. If in the end, you cannot accede to philosophy’s proofs, or theism’s invitation to faith, perhaps you will nevertheless say ‘yes’ to the amazing universe in which we live.

Achieving Consilience

Author: Margherita Dore
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443891991
Category : Translating and interpreting
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Book Description
At Master’s level, students in Translation Studies may choose to complete their course by compiling a dissertation by commentary. Such projects involve detailed discussions of the strategies and procedures that students opt for when translating a source text of their choice (be it literary, audiovisual, or technical). However, the vast majority of these dissertations by commentary usually remain stored in university libraries. Achieving Consilience: Translation Theories and Practice brings to the fore the theoretical and practical potential of these dissertations by commentary. It demonstrates how theories in Translation Studies can be fruitfully, consciously and systematically applied during the translation practice, thus helping to transcend the received wisdom according to which theorists and practitioners share little common ground. Additionally, the contributors to this volume evince their ability to apply a research-driven approach to their analysis by comparing their work with official translations or other field-related texts. As such, this essay collection will contribute to a better understanding of the translator’s decision-making process, and will offer future students valuable guidelines regarding the procedure normally followed in completing a dissertation by commentary.

What Sustains Life?

Author: Dan W. Urry
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 081764346X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 647

Book Description
This book brings together three decades worth of collaborative research to address the question "What sustains life?" In part a scientific response to Schrödinger's work "What is Life?" this text contains elements of memoir, history, and a solid, informative scientific core that will interest the general reader, student, and professional researcher.

Consilience, Truth and the Mind of God

Author: Richard J. Di Rocco
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030018695
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 153

The Social Conquest of Earth

Author: Edward O. Wilson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0871403307
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year (Nonfiction) Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence (Nonfiction) From the most celebrated heir to Darwin comes a groundbreaking book on evolution, the summa work of Edward O. Wilson's legendary career. Sparking vigorous debate in the sciences, The Social Conquest of Earth upends “the famous theory that evolution naturally encourages creatures to put family first” (Discover). Refashioning the story of human evolution, Wilson draws on his remarkable knowledge of biology and social behavior to demonstrate that group selection, not kin selection, is the premier driving force of human evolution. In a work that James D. Watson calls “a monumental exploration of the biological origins of the human condition,” Wilson explains how our innate drive to belong to a group is both a “great blessing and a terrible curse” (Smithsonian). Demonstrating that the sources of morality, religion, and the creative arts are fundamentally biological in nature, the renowned Harvard University biologist presents us with the clearest explanation ever produced as to the origin of the human condition and why it resulted in our domination of the Earth’s biosphere.

What It Means to Be a Libertarian

Author: Charles Murray
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307764923
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Book Description
Charles Murray believes that America's founders had it right--strict limits on the power of the central government and strict protection of the individual are the keys to a genuinely free society. In What It Means to Be a Libertarian, he proposes a government reduced to the barest essentials: an executive branch consisting only of the White House and trimmed-down departments of state, defense, justice, and environment protection; a Congress so limited in power that it meets only a few months each year; and a federal code stripped of all but a handful of regulations. Combining the tenets of classical Libertarian philosophy with his own highly-original, always provocative thinking, Murray shows why less government advances individual happiness and promotes more vital communities and a richer culture. By applying the truths our founders held to be self-evident to today's most urgent social and political problems, he creates a clear, workable vision for the future.