HISTORY 2720 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Complex System, Palaeography, Metanarrative
Document Summary
What is consilience: unity of knowledge about the world, bridge traditional academic disciplines, vision, practical task. Why do we have disciplines: tradition in the pursuit of knowledge, organizations, training and qualifications, aid in communication of knowledge. How do disciplines work: departments and degrees, conventions and jargon, journals and meetings, specializations. Why do we need consilience: transdisciplinary topics, discoveries in one discipline that require knowledge from another, informed decision-making, personal fulfillment. What does consilience mean for history: whole of history, scientific evidence as well as written evidence, natural as well as human history. Why haven"t we done that all along: practical challenges, political and linguistic divides - difference in location and language, chronometric revolution - dates before dating, loss of detail, fear of "grand narratives" (aka "metanarratives") Led to upbringing of communism and fascism in 20th century. So why another "grand narrative": better history, better science - better knowledge now.