This paper considers the views of the American biologist Stephen Jay Gould on the
relation of science and religion in the context of his important critique of Edward O.
Wilson’s Consilience (1998). Gould is best known for his celebrated notion of “nonoverlapping magisteria,” which is often seen in somewhat negative terms as inhibiting
dialogue. However, as a result of his critique of Wilson’s unificationist approach to
knowledge, Gould later made increased use of the more positive notion of a
“consilience of equal regard,” which recognized the porous nature of disciplinary
divides and the propriety of interdisciplinary dialogue. His final approach to the
relation of science and religion, set out in The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister’s
Pox (2003), published after Gould’s death, affirms the distinctiveness and autonomy
of science and religion on the one hand, while encouraging their constructive dialogue
and productive interaction on the other. This, it is argued, should now be seen as
Gould’s definitive statement on this question.
