About the Book
The Single Science has been progressively in the making for over three decades.
In this book, when introducing the Exploratory Method, the author offers a solution to the contentious issue of evolution.
When applying The Formative Method of Science, the author finds that the current distribution of the added value among farmers, the agro-industry, and the merchant has significantly damaged the farmers' situation. Farmers physically work harder than the agro-industry and the merchant. Which one of them manages a greater complexity? Compare farmers' risks to those assumed by the agribusiness transforming cereal into oats or flour, the merchant who sells the product, and the profits they receive. The reasons for the above are the cumulative effect of prejudices and imitation as the root cause.
When addressing the farmers' situation using the Descriptive and Experimental Methods of Science, the author proposes to replace the construction industry as the engine of the economy today with the potential of biodiversity to generate employment worldwide. He also suggests the latent potency of nature's kingdoms for a unifying environmental curricular proposal to empower the world's youth with science methods, starting with the farmers' daughters and sons.
The author emphasizes within the Propositional Method of Science the principle of stewardship in the decision processes, monitoring and evaluating the chosen option's impact on all kingdoms.
When employing the Explanatory Method, the protection of farmers, food security for all, and the protection of biodiversity are the fundamental basis of the village and the neighborhood.
The author suggests that women should play a majority role in managing human affairs at the local, national and international levels, except for the Universal House of Justice. The reasoning that supports this suggestion is that women, among other attributes to making sound choices, have demonstrated to be less prone to corruption, are responsible for only 16% of crime worldwide, and have been endowed with more abundance of mercy, empathy, and tenderness of heart. To reach gender equality, we males should learn from them.
The causes of a divided world are many: political ideologies reproduced by the educational systems and media; the fragmentation of knowledge; science and religion belonging to completely different domains; imitation of ancestors; prejudices; each one has a different opinion and more. Then, what is the short, medium, and long-term strategy to reach unity of thought about some fundamental notions, such as what is a human being, science, and religion? That is the challenge initiated by The Single Science. In it, the reader will find notions of the realms of science and religion joined and welded in a common conceptual framework for reading, interpreting, and transforming reality using seven science methods.
About the Author :
The author worked as a professor in Colombia for FUNDAEC's University for Rural Wellbeing (Non-Profit Foundation for the Application and Teaching of Science) and the Javeriana University. His search for profound answers to the farmers' dire situation started when three indigenous leaders from Latin American tribes, among others, were invited in 1989 to a seminar about FUNDAEC's almost 80 textbooks fruit of research about agriculture, engineering, education, and agroindustry for rural communities wellbeing. After having presented the results of 15 years of research, he asked them about their opinion. There were a Mapuche from Chile, a Kariña from Venezuela, and a Quechua from Bolivia. At the end of the seminar, he asked them what they thought about FUNDAEC's work during a break. They look at each other and the oldest, Sabino Ortega the Amauta Quechua, said: Leo, what you have is good, but indigenous people perceive nature differently. When Leo asked Sabino, how come? Sabino answered: When I observe a special bird flying over my home, I know visitors started walking to visit us, and they will be here in two or three days. Leo told them that he would study their concern and look for an answer. Their response transformed the course of his life. From the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, he was aware of focusing the search on the ancient Greek philosophers. I have vast experience working with NGOs in Colombia and Central America as a consultant and as a teacher. Specifically, I developed and teach a methodology that allows Businesses and Non-Profits to define parameters and formulate indicators to measure their progress in solving their problems. In Atlanta, I have volunteered at the Latin American Association, teaching a course titled Domestic Violence Issues and designing and teaching a course to train Hispanics to monitor and evaluate their job performance to increase job stability. These experiences have given me solid, extensive management skills, which, when coupled with my experiences at HCAG (Hispanic Contractor's Association of Georgia), mainly a course, that I developed and taught on Risk Management, have prepared me to continue to work in education with the diverse, multicultural populations of Georgia. Because of the US 2008 economic recession I have been taking care of little kids for the last three and half years and I have learn patience and understanding of little ones curiosity and how to guide them and take care of them.I am very goal oriented, a skill I learned as the Academic Coordinator of a graduate program in Management of Non-Profits the equivalent of a Masters in Social Management. As a result of my academic and professional training, I am methodical and organized in my approach to education. The author dedicated his other books to the relentlessly persecuted Bahá'ís of Iran. This book is also in their honor for being so resilient and steadfast human beings.My eternal gratitude to my wife and our dear children, their spouses, and grandkids; I will never forget the joy of being with them and their support, patience, and love in accepting the long hours I dedicate to my research.
Review :
Edmundo Gutiérrez, President of FUNDAEC's "University Center for Rural Well-Being", in the prologue of, En Síntesis: ¡La Ciencia es Amor! Aplicaciones Prácticas en los Organismos No Gubernamentales (1992), wrote:
Leonardo Duque proposes a new way to face Non-Governmental Organizations challenges; his proposal is framed in a context of integration that includes the understanding of man as a multidimensional being, a close link of theory with practice and a fusion between the material and the spiritual.
En la Encrucijada: Una Perspectiva Nueva. En Honor a las Mujeres del Mundo (1999), Dr. Jairo Roldan, Ph.D. in Philosophy of Science from the Sorbonne University and one of Colombia's foremost physicists, said in the prologue:
By having Religion as a purpose, the search for spiritual truths, and since reality is one, both Science and Religion would seek the same thing in the background. Hence the essential harmony between them, which is one of the fundamental principles accepted by Professor Duque. His thesis, as can be seen, is inspiring novel research on the nature of Science.
In closing, I would like to add that the book is an honest effort to help those most in need solve their problems. The task that the author has set himself is enormous and he does so inspired by his love for humanity and his religious convictions. To what extent Professor Duque achieves his tasks is up to the readers to decide.
Dr. Farzam Arbab in reference to "En la Encrucijada: Una Perspectiva Nueva, said:
"Just a note to thank you for the copies of your book "En la Encrucijada: Una Perspectiva Nueva." l have finally had a chance to look through it, especially the sections you suggested. It is really wonderful that you have been confirmed in carrying out this work. Doors are steadily opening for the Faith in Colombia in ways we could not have imagined a couple of decades ago, and the community is fortunate to have members like you who can walk through them.
Dr. Stephen Beebe - a senior bean researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in the prologue to A New Approach to Science (Duque 2018), said:
A hallmark of the age in which we live is the freedom to investigate reality and truth. Indeed, beyond the common concept of "freedom", which implies the possibility of a "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude toward a search for truth, it is indeed the responsibility of each individual to investigate reality. Search is part of our essential being; it is not an option.
Ian Kluge, a bahá'í scholar philosopher, said: "I think the idea underlying the chart is excellent and draws attention to correspondences within reality as analyzed from the perspective of Aristotle's four-fold causality. Contemporary world-views are very weak vis-à-vis correspondences in reality because they lack the vision of reality as made up of different ontological levels. This literally blinds them to some of the relationships that your chart makes apparent."
