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Concept
Holism
Summary
Holism is the interdisciplinary idea that systems possess properties as wholes apart from the properties of their component parts.
The concept of holism informs the methodology for a broad array of scientific fields and lifestyle practices. When applications of holism are said to reveal properties of a whole system beyond those of its parts, these qualities are referred to as emergent properties of that system. Holism in all contexts is opposed to reductionism which is the notion that systems containing parts contain no unique properties beyond those parts. Scientific proponents of holism consider the search for these emergent properties within systems the primary reason to incorporate it into scientific assumptions or perspectives.
The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts (1870-1950) in his 1926 book Holism and Evolution. While he never assigned a consistent meaning to the word, Smuts used holism to represent at least three features of reality.
First, holism claims that every scientifically measurable thing, either physical or psychological, does possess a nature as a whole beyond its parts. His examples include atoms, cells, or an individual's personality. Smuts discussed this sense of holism in his claim that an individual's body and mind are not completely separated but instead connect and represent the holistic idea of a person. In his second sense, Smuts referred to holism as the cause of evolution. He argued that evolution is neither an accident nor is it brought about by the actions of some transcendant force, such as a God. Smuts criticized writers who emphasized Darwinian concepts of natural selection and genetic variation to support an accidental view of natural processes within the universe. Smuts perceived evolution as the process of nature correcting itself creatively and intentionally. In this way, holism is the tendency of a whole system to creatively respond to environmental stressors, a process in which parts naturally work together to bring the whole into more advanced states.
Official source
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