This study is an attempt to overcome the old barriers surrounding natural science, social science, and humanities. Throughout the 20th century, each discipline separated itself from other sciences, justifying this isolation with reductionism. Also the ...
This study is an attempt to overcome the old barriers surrounding natural science, social science, and humanities. Throughout the 20th century, each discipline separated itself from other sciences, justifying this isolation with reductionism. Also the dichotomy of modernism between nature and society limited the growth of new academism in the last century. However, to have unified understanding of our reality, we must go beyond the barriers that separate natural and social science.
Material, life, and society are separated entities, but at the same time they are inseparable in our existence. Also material, life, and society all share the trait of emergence which is produced by the complex interaction of lesser units. The understanding of this interaction and emergence constitutes an important part of the methodology for this study.
Various alternatives for the modernity’s’ nature-society dichotomy are reviewed in this study. Social science alone, which ignores the biology and physiology of human being, cannot possibly explain the nature of man and society. One of these consilience approaches is the review of the literatures that seek the true nature of human through the theories of Darwinism, which take man as a being of the nature. Darwinism both succeeded and revolutionized the traditional views on the human nature. Darwin explained morality and altruism in terms of biological evolution, and concluded that human nature was continuously changing through the process of natural selection. Also the political life and cooperation in human community can be understood with the evolution of human nature.
The theory of evolution is also a product of evolution, constantly interacting with the present society and culture. For example, the evolutionary approach to the traits of each gender has been influenced by the dominant perception of family and gender role of the time, and also has shaped the way we understand family and gender.
The theory of evolution tells us that nature and culture are not separated entities, and that they are connected with complex interactions. This study is expected to help us build a foundation for the unified science of consilience, by showing how physics, biology, and evolutionary science can improve our understanding of humanities and social science.