consilience
/kənˈsɪ.li.əns/
consilience means the concurrence of multiple inductions drawn from different data sets.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, consilience ranks #2,592 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #3,245 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #7,181 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #7,510 of 14,448 for Funniest Words.
consilience is pronounced /kənˈsɪ.li.əns/.
Why “consilience” is a great word
Consilience is the principle that evidence from independent, unrelated sources converges to reinforce a single conclusion. From Latin con- ("together") + saliō ("to leap, jump") + -ence, modelled after resilience; coined in 1840 by English polymath William Whewell. Unlike "coincidence," which suggests a random concurrence, or "syncretism," which denotes an amalgamation of beliefs, consilience describes a systematic, evidential alignment. It is the fossil record whispering the same story as the genetic code, the economic model finding its echo in a psychological study, the disparate arcs of light and gravity bending toward a unified theory—a quiet, cumulative argument for an underlying order in the fabric of things.
Etymology
From Latin con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) + saliō (“to bound, jump, leap”) (modelled after resiliēns (“rebounding”)) + -ence, influenced by concurrent. Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1840 in his book The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences.
noun
- The concurrence of multiple inductions drawn from different data sets.“Indeed in all cases in which from propositions of considerable generality, propositions of a still higher degree are obtained, there is a convergence of inductions; and if in one of the lines which thus converge, the steps be rapidly and suddenly made in order to meet the other line, we may consider that we have an example of Consilience.”
- The agreement, co-operation, or overlap of academic disciplines.“The common pursuit of Truth is of itself a brotherhood. [...] Surely, were each of us to give utterance to all he feels, we should hear the Chemist, the Astronomer, the Physiologist, the Electrician, the Botanist, the Geologist, all with one accord, and each in the language of his own science, declaring not only the wonderful works of God disclosed in it, but the delight which their disclosure aff”
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