His argument is for rational thought and reasoned, verifiable answers in all realms through science. As we come closer to a fuller understanding of the evolutionary process and the key role our genes play in our behavior, we just might better understand our purpose and reach. More importantly, we may, in the end, learn to appreciate each other or at the very least be tolerant of different views. Better yet, we may realize our interconnected, common heritage as leverage to dampen the tribal instincts found in our DNA. Our future depends on it.
There is room for all bodies of knowledge in this approach. It expresses the need for cross pollination with science (through method and trustworthiness) as the glue to understanding these realms. It is about the whole, not just the parts.
One of the very pleasant surprises in the book was the argument for the necessity of the arts and the role they play. The arts have been with us ever since we could communicate. It (art) was communication and explanation- about the world around us and how to survive it. It was and is an innate response to understanding the world we live in, a world we are increasingly influencing, but with disturbingly short sighted behavior. We simply cannot survive the effects of ignorance and narrow minded views. The arts are telling us what we are and what we are doing in real time and in the whole; and what is important. We, individually and collectively, give life meaning and express it in many ways. Meaning does not come from some external force; a force is directive only. And if force did somehow imply meaning, we would have nothing to do let alone explain. Life's meaning would be evident and provable, not mysterious. What a waste of DNA that would be.
In a world were many of us are worry about educating our children, Wilson exposes the old hackneyed sham position by some leaders that certain subjects should be taught at the expense of others. Math, science and increasingly, business as the core curriculum of our educational system seems very timid, incomplete and outright fraudulent. And it seems driven only by a convoluted sense of competition with the other tribes. Once again, we see the faux liberal/conservative dualistic argument wrought on a naturally non controversial realm. A realm that by it's very nature is "liberal." Education must be all inclusive in content and based on fact, not myth, to be an honest exercise. Education is a complete endeavor. You can't stake out what are otherwise perfectly honest and necessary ideas for understanding the whole as polar positions to the "other" and claim them as equivalents. They simply are not. There is no "other." There is only the whole.
I have always felt you could make an argument for the arts and humanities as the core of a sound educational system. The arts are about the whole. In teaching art, I have always stressed to my students that artists need a knowledge of science, the social sciences, math and history to have any idea of what they are doing and saying in coherent context. My own interest in science has led to nothing short of astonishment in the nature of the universe. It has informed much of what I do in the studio but more importantly it has changed how I think. I have no reservation in bringing the sciences to the core of education. In following Wilson's thinking, we would see a structure that is inclusive and informed by all realms of knowledge- math, the socio-political arena and the arts with the sound underpinnings of a biological drive we are still learning about and the humanity therein expressed. It is something this artist could easily embrace.
