Tree of Knowledge System - Toward The Integration of Human Knowledge

Toward The Integration of Human Knowledge

As stated above, the ToK System proposes a new epistemology with the goal of moving academic knowledge toward what E.O. Wilson termed consilience. Consilience is the interlocking of fact and theory into a coherent, holistic view of knowledge. Henriques argues that the ToK affords new perspectives on how knowledge is obtained because it depicts how science emerges out of culture and that the four dimensions of complexity correspond to four broad classes of science: the physical, biological, psychological and social sciences.

Henriques further argues that developing such a system for integrating knowledge is not just an academic enterprise. He suggests that in an increasingly complex world, the fragmented state of knowledge can be seen as one of the most pressing social problems of our time. Henriques also believes that history seems to attest that the absence of a collective worldview ostensibly condemns humanity to an endless series of conflicts that inevitably stem from incompatible, partially correct, locally situated justification systems. Thus, from Henriques' perspective, there are good reasons for believing that if there was a shared, general background of explanation, humanity might be able to achieve much greater levels of harmonious relations.

In a 2008 article on the ToK, Henriques cites Oliver Reiser's 1958 call for unifying scientific knowledge that Henriques implies is similar in theme to the ToK:

In this time of divisive tendencies within and between the nations, races, religions, sciences and humanities, synthesis must become the great magnet which orients us all… scientists have not done what is possible toward integrating bodies of knowledge created by science into a unified interpretation of man, his place in nature, and his potentialities for creating the good society. Instead, they are entombing us in dark and meaningless catacombs of learning.

With its depiction of the dimensions of complexity and interlocking theoretical joint points, Henriques' believes that his ToK System offers new avenues that might allow scholars to meet Reiser’s call for academic synthesis. Henriques, like Reiser, believes that with a shared sense of purpose and a common background of explanation, people might yet be able to integrate bodies of knowledge into a unified interpretation of humanity, with humanity's place in nature and its potentialities for creating the good society.