Edward O. Wilson's theory of consilience : a hermeneutical critique
By: JUNG, Hwa Yol
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Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: New York : Marcel Dekker, 2002International Journal of Public Administration- IJPA 25, 9-10, p. 1171-1197Abstract: This paper is a hermeneutical critique of Edward O. Wilson's theory of consilience which attempts to understand " human nature" and unify all knowlege under the aegis of biology and genetics. His pansophic endeavor based on "gene-culture coevolution" is deeply and one-sidedly embedded in genetics. By reducing the human order merely to the organic and ultimately to the physical, furthermore, Wilson's theory is not only a specimen of physicalism whose paradigmatic model is physics but also is fundamentally rooted in a mechanistic or materialistic ontology. Hermeneutics is ntroduced and proposed here as the alternative to Wilson's reductionistic theory of cosilience. It is capable of untying the Gordian knot of Wilson's scientism which has a monochromatic and short leash on human culture and society because both the social and natural sciences are socio-cultural phenomena and products. Hermeneutical inquiry becomes an indispensabletool for learning and teaching the social sciences in particular because above all it is erected in the conception of language as the edifice of human specificity
| Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Periódico | Biblioteca Graciliano Ramos | Periódico | Not for loan |
This paper is a hermeneutical critique of Edward O. Wilson's theory of consilience which attempts to understand " human nature" and unify all knowlege under the aegis of biology and genetics. His pansophic endeavor based on "gene-culture coevolution" is deeply and one-sidedly embedded in genetics. By reducing the human order merely to the organic and ultimately to the physical, furthermore, Wilson's theory is not only a specimen of physicalism whose paradigmatic model is physics but also is fundamentally rooted in a mechanistic or materialistic ontology. Hermeneutics is ntroduced and proposed here as the alternative to Wilson's reductionistic theory of cosilience. It is capable of untying the Gordian knot of Wilson's scientism which has a monochromatic and short leash on human culture and society because both the social and natural sciences are socio-cultural phenomena and products. Hermeneutical inquiry becomes an indispensabletool for learning and teaching the social sciences in particular because above all it is erected in the conception of language as the edifice of human specificity
Volume 25
Numbers 9-10
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