Could a “philosophical fitness landscape” foster Wilsonian consilience in biosystems debates?
A digital interpretation of Edward O. Wilson’s principle of “consilience”—knowledge will grow out of interdisciplinary accommodation—is attempted by modeling it with 32 pixels on a “philosophical fitness landscape” (PFL). This approach partially answers a need expressed by Wilson to develop useful c...
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Veröffentlicht in: | BioSystems 2003-12, Vol.72 (3), p.217-227 |
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Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | A digital interpretation of Edward O. Wilson’s principle of “consilience”—knowledge will grow out of interdisciplinary accommodation—is attempted by modeling it with 32 pixels on a “philosophical fitness landscape” (PFL). This approach partially answers a need expressed by Wilson to develop useful consilience methodology, including maps and other orientation devises. Responding also to his call for more imagination, a “virtual roundtable” discussion is convened among 13 scientific luminaries to debate the meaning of biological life and its origin. This is done to test (subjectively) the null hypothesis that a PFL would be insensitive to the diversity of perspectives engaged in such a debate. Rejecting the null hypothesis, an argument is made that an appropriate PFL might help to foster Wilsonian consilience in biosystems debates, where it is needed most. |
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ISSN: | 0303-2647 1872-8324 |
DOI: | 10.1016/S0303-2647(03)00147-3 |