ABSTRACT

Two modes of understanding dominate the history of ideas. One posits the overarching unity of knowledge, the other cherishes its multifarious diversity. Unity is the goal of those who seek a single all-encompassing explanation of everything. Diversity is lauded by those who commend difference and variety as life-enhancing. In quantum physics, the quest for a Grand Unified Theory (and beyond that for a Theory of Everything) aims to conjoin gravity with weak, strong, and electromagnetic interactive forces. But in mundane reality, charge diversifiers, the search for unity seems to generate not only single- but simple-mindedness. A critical moment for both unifiers and partisans of diversity was the conflicted Zeitgeist of the late 19th and early 20th century. Advances in technology came at a pace that seemed to assure the sway of science. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.