Wikipedia

Holism

For a definition of the suffix "-holism", see the Wiktionary entry-holism.

Holismis the interdisciplinary idea thatsystemspossess properties as wholes apart from the properties of their component parts.[1][2][3] The aphorism "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts", typically attributed toAristotle,is often given as a glib summary of this proposal.[4]The concept of holism can inform the methodology for a broad array ofscientificfields 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 asemergent propertiesof that system. Holism in all contexts is often placed in opposition toreductionism,a dominant notion in thephilosophy of sciencethat systems containing parts contain no unique properties beyond those parts. Proponents of holism consider the search for emergent properties within systems to be demonstrative of their perspective.[5]

Background

edit
Smuts considered natural processes (such as evolution) to contain emergent properties.

The term "holism" was coined byJan Smuts(1870–1950) in his 1926 bookHolism and Evolution.[6]While he never assigned a consistent meaning to the word, Smuts used holism to represent at least three features of reality.[7]First, holism claims that every scientifically measurable thing, either physical or psychological, does possess a nature as a whole beyond its parts. His examples includeatoms,cells,or an individual'spersonality.Smuts discussed this sense of holism in his claim that an individual's body and mind are notcompletely separatedbut 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 anaccidentnor is itbrought about by the actionsof sometranscendantforce, such as a God. Smuts criticized writers who emphasizedDarwinianconcepts ofnatural selectionandgenetic variationto 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 described as 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. Smuts used Pavlovian studies to argue that theinheritance of behavioral changessupports his idea of creative evolution as opposed to purely accidental development in nature.[8][9] Smuts believed that this creative process was intrinsic within all physical systems of parts and ruled out indirect,transcendent forces.[7][10]Finally, Smuts used holism to explain the concrete (nontranscendent) nature of the universe in general. In his words, holism is "the ultimate synthetic, ordering, organizing, regulative activity in the universe which accounts for all the structural groupings and syntheses in it."[11]Smuts argued that a holistic view of the universe explains its processes and their evolution more effectively than a reductive view.

Professional philosophers of science and linguistics did not considerHolism and Evolutionseriously upon its initial publication in 1926 and the work has received criticism for a lack of theoretical coherence.[7][10][12]Some biological scientists, however, did offer favorable assessments shortly after its first print.[13]Over time, the meaning of the word holism became most closely associated with Smuts' first conception of the term, yet without any metaphysical commitments tomonism,dualism,or similar concepts which can be inferred from his work.[7]

Scientific applications

edit

Physics

edit

Nonseparability

edit

The advent of holism in the 20th century coincided with the gradual development ofquantum mechanics. Holism in physics is the nonseparability of physical systems from their parts, especially quantum phenomena.Classical physicscannot be regarded as holistic, as the behavior of individual parts represents the whole. However, the state of a system inquantum theoryresists a certain kind of reductive analysis. For example, two spatially separated quantum systems are described as "entangled,"or nonseparable from each other, when a meaningful analysis of one system is indistinguishable from that of the other.[14]There are different conceptions of nonseparability in physics and its exploration is considered to broadly present insight into theontologicalproblem.[14][15]

Variants

edit

In one sense, holism for physics is a perspective about the best way to understand the nature of a physical system. In this sense, holism is the methodological claim that systems are accurately understood according to their properties as a whole. A methodological reductionist in physics might seek to explain, for example, the behavior of a liquid by examining its component molecules, atoms, ions or electrons. A methodological holist, on the other hand, believes there is something misguided about this approach; one proponent, a condensed matter physicist, puts it: “the most important advances in this area come about by the emergence of qualitatively new concepts at the intermediate or macroscopic levels—concepts which, one hopes, will be compatible with one’s information about the microscopic constituents, but which are in no sense logically dependent on it.”[16]This perspective is considered a conventional attitude among contemporary physicists.[14] In another sense, holism is a metaphysical claim that the nature of a system is not determined by the properties of its component parts. There are three varieties of this sense of physical holism.

  • Ontological holism: some systems are not merely composed of their physical parts
  • Property holism: some systems have properties independent of their physical parts
  • Nomological holism: some systems follow physical laws beyond the laws followed by their physical parts
ThisFeynman diagramillustrates the path of anelectron(e−) and apositron(e+) within a quantum field that could be described in terms ofBohmian mechanics.

The metaphysical claim does not assert that physical systems involveabstractproperties beyond the composition of its physical parts, but that there are concrete properties aside from those of its basic physical parts. Theoretical physicistDavid Bohm(1917-1992) supports this view head-on. Bohm believed that a complete description of the universe would have to go beyond a simple list of all its particles and their positions, there would also have to be a physical quantum field associated with the properties of those particlesguidingtheir trajectories.[17][18]Bohm's ontological holism concerning the nature of whole physical systems was literal.[19]ButNiels Bohr(1885-1962), on the other hand, held ontological holism from an epistemological angle, rather than a literal one.[20]Bohr saw anobservational apparatusto be a part of a system under observation, besides the basic physical parts themselves. His theory agrees with Bohm that whole systems were not merely composed of their parts and it identifies properties such as position and momentum as those of whole systems beyond those of its components.[21]But Bohr states that these holistic properties are only meaningful in experimental contexts when physical systems are under observation and that these systems, when not under observation, cannot be said to have meaningful properties, even if these properties took place outside our observation. While Bohr claims these holistic properties exist only insofar as they can be observed, Bohm took his ontological holism one step further by claiming these properties must existregardless.

Linguistics

edit

Semantic holismsuggests that the meaning of individual words depends on the meaning of other words, forming a large web of interconnections. In general, meaning holism states that the properties which determine the meaning of a word are connected such that if the meaning of one word changes, the meaning of every other word in the web changes as well.[22][23]The set of words that alter in meaning due to a change in the meaning of some other is not necessarily specified in meaning holism, but typically such a change is taken straightforwardly to affect the meaning of every word in the language.[24][25][26][27]

In scientific disciplines, reductionism is the opposing viewpoint to holism. But in the context oflinguisticsor thephilosophy of language,reductionism is typically referred to as atomism. Specifically, atomism states that each word's meaning is independent and so there are no emergent properties within a language. Additionally, there is meaning molecularism which states that a change in one word alters the meaning of only a relatively small set of other words.

The linguistic perspective of meaning holism is traced back to Quine[28]but was subsequently formalized by analytic philosophersMichael Dummett,Jerry Fodor,andErnest Lepore.[29] While this holistic approach attempts to resolve a classical problem for the philosophy of language concerning how words convey meaning, there is debate over its validity mostly from two angles of criticism: opposition tocompositionalityand, especially, instability of meaning. The first claims that meaning holism conflicts with the compositionality of language. Meaning in some languages is compositional in that meaning comes from the structure of an expression's parts.[29][30]Meaning holism suggests that the meaning of words plays an inferential role in the meaning of other words: "pet fish" mightinfera meaning of "less than 3 ounces." Since holistic views of meaning assume meaning depends on which words are used and how those words infer meaning onto other words, rather than how they are structured, meaning holism stands in conflict withcompositionalismand leaves statements with potentially ambiguous meanings.[29][31]The second criticism claims that meaning holism makes meaning in language unstable. If some words must be used to infer the meaning of other words, then in order to communicate a message, the sender and the receiver must share an identical set of inferential assumptions or beliefs. If these beliefs were different, meaning may be lost.[32][33]

Many types of communication would be directly affected by the principles of meaning holism such as informative communication,[32]language learning,[34][35][36]and communication about psychological states.[37][38]Nevertheless, some meaning holists maintain that the instability of meaning holism is an acceptable feature from several different angles.[14]In one example,contextualholists make this point simply by suggesting we often do not actually share identical inferential assumptions but instead rely on context to counter differences of inference and support communication.[39]

Biology

edit
Systems biology aims to understand how genes and proteins function together to form organisms like this animal cell.

Scientific applications of holism within biology are referred to assystems biology.The opposing analytical approach of systems biology isbiological organizationwhich modelsbiological systemsand structures only in terms of their component parts. "The reductionist approach has successfully identified most of the components and many of the interactions but, unfortunately, offers no convincing concepts or methods to understand how system properties emerge...the pluralism of causes and effects in biological networks is better addressed by observing, through quantitative measures, multiple components simultaneously and by rigorous data integration with mathematical models."[40] The objective in systems biology is to advance models of the interactions in a system. Holistic approaches to modelling have involved cellular modelling strategies,[41]genomic interaction analysis,[42]and phenotype prediction.[43]

Systems medicine

edit
Systems medicine considers holism to better understand part-whole relationships as with microbial-host coevolution.

Systems medicineis a practical approach tosystems biologyand accepts its holistic assumptions. Systems medicine takes the systems of the human body as made up of a complete whole and uses this as a starting point in its research and, ultimately, treatment.

Lifestyle applications

edit

The term holism[44]is also sometimes used in the context of variouslifestylepractices, such asdieting,education, and healthcare, to refer to ways of life that either supplement or replace conventional practices. In these contexts, holism is not necessarily a rigorous or well-defined methodology for obtaining a particular lifestyle outcome. It is sometimes simply an adjective to describe practices which account for factors that standard forms of these practices may discount, especially in the context ofalternative medicine.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^Seevnick, M.P. (2004), "Holism, physical theories and quantum mechanics",Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics,35(4): 693,arXiv:quant-ph/0402047,Bibcode:2004SHPMP..35..693S,doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2004.08.001,S2CID7081965.
  2. ^Jackman, Henry (15 September 2014),Meaning Holism,The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition),archivedfrom the original on 14 April 2023,retrieved15 April2023
  3. ^Julian Tudor Hart(2010)The Political Economy of Health Carepp.106, 258
  4. ^"Whole is greater than the sum of its parts – Lancaster Glossary of Child Development".2019-05-22.Retrieved2024-02-21.
  5. ^David Deutsch (14 April 2011).The Fabric of Reality.Penguin Books Limited.ISBN978-0-14-196961-9.
  6. ^Hancock, W.K. (1962),Smuts 1. The Sanguine Years, 1870-1919,Cambridge Univ Press, p. 304
  7. ^abcdBrush, Francis W. (1984). "4.1".Jan Christian Smuts and His Doctrine of Holism.Vol. 7. Univ of Toronto Press. pp. 288–297.doi:10.3138/uram.7.4.288.Archivedfrom the original on 2023-04-14.Retrieved2023-04-15.{{cite book}}:|journal=ignored (help)
  8. ^L. Getz, A.L. Kirkengen, E. Ulvestad, Menneskets biologi - mettet med erfaring, Tidsskr. Den Nor. Laegeforening. 7 (2011) 683–687. doi:10.4045/tidsskr.10.0874.
  9. ^P. Jensen, Transgenerational epigenetic effects on animal behaviour, Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol. 113 (2013) 447–454. doi:10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2013.01.001.
  10. ^abJörgenfelt, Chris (2019),A critical analysis of J.C. Smuts' theory of holism(PDF),European Journal of Integrative Medicine, Elsevier,archived(PDF)from the original on 2023-04-14,retrieved2023-04-15
  11. ^Smuts, J.C. 1926. Holism and Evolution. P. 317. New York: The Macmillan Company.
  12. ^Shelley, Christopher (2005),Jan Smuts and Personality Theory: The Problem of Holism in Psychology(PDF),University of Cape Town,archived(PDF)from the original on 2023-04-07,retrieved2023-04-15
  13. ^C.L. Morgan, Holism and Evolution by J. C. Smuts [Review], J. Philos. Stud. 2 (1927) 93–97. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3745387Archived2023-04-15 at theWayback Machine
  14. ^abcdHealey, Richard; Gomes, Henrique (2022),"Holism and Nonseparability in Physics",in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(Spring 2022 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University,archivedfrom the original on 2022-09-28,retrieved2022-09-28
  15. ^Karakostas, Vassilios (2004),Forms of Quantum Nonseparability and Related Philosophical Consequences(PDF),Journal for General Philosophy of Science,archived(PDF)from the original on 2023-05-31,retrieved2023-04-15
  16. ^Leggett, A. J., 1987, p.113, The Problems of Physics, New York: Oxford University Press.
  17. ^Bohm, D., 1980, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  18. ^Bohm, D. and Hiley, B.J., 1993, The Undivided Universe, New York: Routledge.
  19. ^B. J. Hiley:Some remarks on the evolution of Bohm's proposals for an alternative to quantum mechanicsArchived2019-11-04 at theWayback Machine,30 January 2010.
  20. ^Faye, Jan,"Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics"Archived2019-10-05 at theWayback Machine,The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(Winter 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/qm-copenhagen/Archived2022-11-28 at theWayback Machine.
  21. ^Bohr, N., 1934, Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  22. ^Jackman, Henry, "Meaning Holism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/entries/meaning-holism/Archived2023-04-14 at theWayback Machine
  23. ^Hempel, C.G., 1950, “Problems and changes in the empiricist criterion of meaning”, Revue internationale de Philosophie, 41(11): 41–63.
  24. ^Block, N., 1986, “Advertisement for a Semantics for Psychology”, Midwest Studies in Philosophy (Studies in the Philosophy of Mind), 10: 615–678.
  25. ^Field, H., 1977, “Logic, Meaning and Conceptual Role”, The Journal of Philosophy, LXXIV(7): 379–409.
  26. ^Harman, G., 1993, “Meaning Holism Defended”, in Fodor and Lepore 1993, pp. 163–171.
  27. ^Sellars, W., 1974, “Meaning as Functional Classification”, Synthese, 27: 417–37.
  28. ^Quine, W.V., 1951, “Two dogmas of empiricism”, reprinted in W.V. Quine, 1953, From a logical point of view, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 20–46
  29. ^abcFodor, J. & E. Lepore 1992, Holism: A Shoppers Guide, Cambridge: Blackwell.
  30. ^Fodor, J. & E. Lepore 2002, The Compositionality Papers, New York: Oxford University Press.
  31. ^Pagin, P., 1997, “Is Compositionality Compatible with Holism?” Mind & Language, 12(1): 11–33.
  32. ^abJackman, Henry, "Meaning Holism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/entries/meaning-holism/Archived2023-04-14 at theWayback Machine
  33. ^Jackman, Henry, "Meaning Holism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, URL =https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/meaning-holism/notes.html#note-16Archived2023-04-15 at theWayback Machine
  34. ^Dummett, M., 1976, “What is a Theory of Meaning? (II)”, reprinted in M. Dummett, The Seas of Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, 44
  35. ^Dresner, E., 2002, “Holism, Language Acquisition and Algebraic Logic”, Linguistics and Philosophy, 25(4): 419–52.
  36. ^Jönsson, M., 2014, “Semantic Holism and Language Learning”, Journal of Philosophical Logic, 43: 725–59.
  37. ^Fodor, J., 1987, Psychosemantics: The Problem of Meaning in the Philosophy of Mind, Cambridge: MIT Press.
  38. ^Fodor, J. & E. Lepore, 1992, Holism: A Shoppers Guide, Cambridge: Blackwell.
  39. ^Bilgrami, A. 1992, Belief and Meaning, Oxford: Blackwell.
  40. ^Sauer, Uwe; Heinemann, Matthias; Zamboni, Nicola (27 April 2007). "Genetics: Getting Closer to the Whole Picture". Science. 316 (5824): 550–551. doi:10.1126/science.1142502. PMID 17463274. S2CID 42448991.
  41. ^Snoep, Jacky L; Westerhoff, Hans V (2005). "From isolation to integration, a systems biology approach for building the Silicon Cell". In Alberghina, Lilia; Westerhoff, Hans V (eds.). Systems Biology: Definitions and Perspectives. Topics in Current Genetics. Vol. 13. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. pp. 13–30. doi:10.1007/b106456. ISBN 978-3-540-22968-1.
  42. ^Chiara Romualdi; Gerolamo Lanfranchi (2009). "Statistical Tools for Gene Expression Analysis and Systems Biology and Related Web Resources". In Stephen Krawetz (ed.). Bioinformatics for Systems Biology (2nd ed.). Humana Press. pp. 181–205. doi:10.1007/978-1-59745-440-7_11. ISBN 978-1-59745-440-7.
  43. ^Karr, Jonathan R.; Sanghvi, Jayodita C.; Macklin, Derek N.; Gutschow, Miriam V.; Jacobs, Jared M.; Bolival, Benjamin; Assad-Garcia, Nacyra; Glass, John I.; Covert, Markus W. (July 2012). "A Whole-Cell Computational Model Predicts Phenotype from Genotype". Cell. 150 (2): 389–401. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.05.044. PMC 3413483. PMID 22817898.
  44. ^Susanne Steines:Ambihemispherical Holosophy’s 12 Translucidly Mindful Words,Dec 10, 2021.
edit
Look upholismin Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiquote has quotations related toHolism.
  • Media related toHolismat Wikimedia Commons
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holism&oldid=1248386987"