If my understanding is correct the contentious point with my proposal is the word consilience which is unfortunate because it is the perfect term for this s proposal isn t too bad but it does not address the problem with the first sentence In an attempt to drop the consilience term and to remain consistent with Provine s description of the modern synthesis I offer the following to replace the first two sentences in the fourth paragraph the first uses consilience In the early 20th century an evolutionary synthesis coupled a new quantitative theory of heredity to Darwinian selection and forged a consilience of knowledge from previously fractured branches of biology Purposive theories such as orthogenesis and progress became obsolete In the early 20th century an evolutionary coupled a new quantitative theory of heredity to Darwinian selection and offered a new approach for testing evolutionary theory This new way of investigating evolution served to unite previously fractured branches of biology and purposive theories such as orthogenesis and progress became obsolete