In this work, the pioneer of sociobiology and biodiversity argues for the fundamental unity of all knowledge and the need to search for what he calls consilience - the composition of the principles governing every branch of learning. Wilson sets out to show how our explosive rise in intellectual mastery of the truths of our universe has its roots in the ancient Greek concept of an intrinsic orderliness that governs the cosmos. This vision found its apogee in the Age of Enlightenment, but then gradually was lost in the increasing fragmentation and specialization of knowledge in the last two centuries. He argues that the goals of the original Enlightenment are surging back to life, that they are reappearing at the frontiers of science and humanistic scholarship, and that they are beginning to sketch themselves as the blueprint of our world.