title: Could a "philosophical fitness landscape" foster Wilsonian consilience in biosystems debates?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Health Division, Olympic College, 1600 Chester Avenue, Bremerton, WA 98337-1699, USA. rmemery@earthlink.net
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Emery
mesh_terms: D001695:Biology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012586:Science; D012984:Software