Opening the Doors to a New Renaissance of Knowledge
14 September 2006
Submitted by: Erkan Alpman (ICVolunteers)
Contributors: Beatrice Nordin (ICVolunteers), Steve Pollard (ICVolunteers), Randy Schmieder (MCART)
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"My son, only when you know everything about everything, will you be a real human being". This is how the French renaissance author and humanist François Rabelais in his "Gargantua" describes the beauty of knowing everything about the world; naming every object; studying every animal; reading every book.
According to World Knowledge Dialogue Director Professor Francis Waldvogel, science has become fragmented and specialized since the Renaissance-- tending to relegate human beings to the "non-essential" position. Fellow speakers, Professor Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, President of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan, Professor Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino Researcch Professor in Entomology at Harvard University, and Dame Julia Higgins, Professor of Polymer Sciences at Imperial College, all agreed that natural and social sciences today are disconnected. Some feel it is urgent to repair this fracture: history has shown us that mismanagement of knowledge can have disasterous impacts.
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Socrates never actually claimed to be wise, only to understand the path that a lover of wisdom must take in pursuing it. Image: Wikipedia |
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Prof. Yoshikawa and Prof. Waldvogel propose cultivating better ways to conduct dialogue; a trans-disciplinary dimension where all participants are equal and foster a non-parochial, non-competitive vision. Such statements will remain mere observations if nobody creates a fertile ground for mutual comprehension, then makes a tangible proposition to initiate this intellectual work and develops a set of generally accepted rules of the game.
Joining by live videoconference from the United States, the reknowned Entomologist Prof. Wilson, stressed that it is imperative to realise that the sciences are a means to approaching a better understanding of human nature. According to Wilson, as it is, the much-criticized chasm between hard and soft sciences is--for him--not an epistemological division, but a poorly understood phenomenon that only cross-disciplinary reasoning can overcome. The problem, in his opinion, stems from the perception of in a fault line between natural and humanistic sciences-- and the solution lies in accepting that this line does not exist at all. As an example, Prof. Wilson discussed Epigenetic Theory as one means of reconciling genetics and biology on the one hand, with accumulative cultural evidence on the other. Specifically he cited as examples, the universal instinct to avoid incest, and the commonality of preferred habitation choice for all human beings, as two areas where the methods of natural and social sciences are complementary.
The World Knowledge Dialogue aims to develop and provide a set of tools that will narrow the gap between how dialogue is effected today and how it ought to be. Dame Julia Higgins proposed three rules for this 'game of dialogue': listening, being uncritical and enjoying the intellectual adventure. According to Dame Julia, if we were to all follow these simple rules, we could bridge not only divisions in sciences, but also in society. Global mutual understanding and communication could be established before science and technology overwhelms humanity, and the doors to a new renaissance of knowledge and human understanding can be opened. |
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