the.com/holism
The whole explains the parts; the parts never fully explain the whole.
means The view that systems — bodies, ecosystems, societies — must be understood as integrated wholes, because breaking them into pieces loses something real that only exists at the level of the whole.
from Coined from Greek 'holos' (whole) plus the suffix '-ism', by the South African statesman and philosopher Jan Smuts in his 1926 book 'Holism and Evolution.' Smuts wanted a word for his idea that nature tends to build itself into wholes greater than the sum of their parts — atoms into molecules, cells into organisms, organisms into minds. 'Holos' is also the root behind 'whole,' 'health,' and 'catholic' (universal), so the word arrives trailing a long family history of things that hang together.
- coined by
- Jan Smuts, South African statesman, in 1926
- opposite of
- reductionism, which dissects to understand
- core claim
- systems have properties their pieces lack alone
- everyday proof
- a brain explains thought; neurons alone do not