Word
Consilience
The convergence of different lines of evidence on a common explanation
Examples
The consilience of orbital calculations and telescopic observation strengthened the planet hypothesis.
Ten reports copied from one source offer repetition rather than consilience.
Origin
The philosopher of science William Whewell introduced the term in his nineteenth-century account of scientific reasoning. He used it for a joining of inductions: an explanation developed for one class of facts also accounts for another. The point is convergence across evidence, not a tally of agreeing people.
How it connects
The word separates converging evidence from repeated testimony.
This word appeared in When different clues meet, the Involves connection for September 18, 2026, which asked: What makes several pieces of evidence stronger than repeated agreement?
Check yourself
Which case offers the clearest consilience?
Independent chemical and genetic measurements support the same identification. Exactly. Consilience concerns evidence reached through different routes, not duplicated statements.
What the sources establish
Whewell's consilience concerns the convergence of distinct inductions under an explanation.
Sources
William Whewell (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Consilience of inductions and confirmation