ABSTRACT
The noted biologist E. O. Wilson (1998) persuasively argued that the academic walls separating the disciplines searching for knowledge-many of which are as ancient, dilapidated, and now as purposeless as the Chinese Wall-and the specialization within disciplines that such compartmentalization fosters are hindering the advancement of knowledge. In Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Wilson contended that future major discoveries in science are most likely to emerge from seeing the natural world as an integrated whole and by integrating concepts and methodological and analytical tools across many disciplines. The word consilience is derived from two Latin words that mean “leaping together.” Wilson used the term to refer to the advancement of knowledge by linking theory and facts across many disciplines to create a common groundwork of explanation.
