Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The agreement of two or more inductions drawn from different sets of data; concurrence.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A coming together; coincidence; concurrence.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Act of concurring; coincidence; concurrence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun logic the concurrence of multiple inductions drawn from different data sets
  • noun Agreement, co-operation or sharing of methods between or convergence or overlap of academic disciplines

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably coined by William Whewell (1794–1866), British scientist and philosopher, as if from New Latin *cōnsilīre, to leap together (Latin com-, com- + Latin -silīre, combining form of salīre, to leap, as in resilīre, to leap back; see resile) + –ence.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Attested in 1840 CE; from Latin com- ("together") with salire ("to leap").

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Examples

  • As philosopher William Whewell, who coined the term consilience, noted in the nineteenth century, “When an Induction, obtained from one class of facts, coincides with an Induction, obtained from another different class,” we can be very confident it is correct.

    The Edge of Evolution Michael J. Behe 2007

  • As philosopher William Whewell, who coined the term consilience, noted in the nineteenth century, “When an Induction, obtained from one class of facts, coincides with an Induction, obtained from another different class,” we can be very confident it is correct.

    The Edge of Evolution Michael J. Behe 2007

  • As philosopher William Whewell, who coined the term consilience, noted in the nineteenth century, “When an Induction, obtained from one class of facts, coincides with an Induction, obtained from another different class,” we can be very confident it is correct.

    The Edge of Evolution Michael J. Behe 2007

  • As philosopher William Whewell, who coined the term consilience, noted in the nineteenth century, “When an Induction, obtained from one class of facts, coincides with an Induction, obtained from another different class,” we can be very confident it is correct.

    The Edge of Evolution Michael J. Behe 2007

  • The success of the natural sciences has been fueled by "consilience," he says.

    Wilson's World 2008

  • Here Gordon disagrees - and we have a case study in the fragility of the "consilience" of data lauded by Timmer.

    Evolution News & Views 2009

  • Timmer argues that a "consilience" of different lines of evidence strongly favors the catechismal (monophyletic) tale, and faults

    Evolution News & Views 2009

  • Timmer argues that a "consilience" of different lines of evidence strongly favors the catechismal (monophyletic) tale, and faults

    Evolution News & Views 2009

  • Here Gordon disagrees - and we have a case study in the fragility of the "consilience" of data lauded by Timmer.

    Evolution News & Views 2009

  • Wilson's quest for "consilience" shows how the tradition of natural law reasoning can be extended and deepened through a modern science of human nature.

    Darwinian Conservatism by Larry Arnhart 2008

Comments

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  • The "jumping together" of knowledge; unification of knowledge across diverse disciplines. (from WordCraft)

    May 20, 2008