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Holism and holistics: the holistic
understanding of holism
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Holism
Holism (from ὅλος holos, a Greek word meaning all, entire, total) is the
idea that all the properties of a given system (biological, chemical,
social, economic, mental, linguistic, etc.) cannot be determined or
explained by the sum of its component parts alone. Instead, the system
as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave.
The general principle of holism was concisely summarized by Aristotle in
the Metaphysics: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts."
Reductionism is sometimes seen as the opposite of holism. Reductionism
in science says that a complex system can be explained by reduction to
its fundamental parts. Essentially, chemistry is reducible to physics,
biology is reducible to chemistry and physics, psychology and sociology
are reducible to biology, etc. Some other proponents of reductionism,
however, think that holism is the opposite only of greedy reductionism.
On the other hand, holism and reductionism can also be regarded as
complementary viewpoints, in which case they both would be needed to get
a proper account of a given system.
History
The term holism was introduced by the South African statesman Jan Smuts
in his 1926 book, Holism and Evolution. According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, Smuts defined holism as "The tendency in nature to form
wholes that are greater than the sum of the parts through creative
evolution" (cf. Henri Bergson).
The idea has ancient roots. Examples of holism can be found throughout
human history and in the most diverse socio-cultural contexts, as has
been confirmed by many ethnological studies. The French Protestant
missionary, Maurice Leenhardt coined the term cosmomorphism to indicate
the state of perfect symbiosis with the surrounding environment which
characterized the culture of the Melanesians of New Caledonia. For these
people, an isolated individual is totally indeterminate, indistinct and
featureless until he can find his position within the natural and social
world in which he is inserted. The confines between the self and the
world are annulled to the point that the material body itself is no
guarantee of the sort of recognition of identity which is typical of our
own culture.
Holism in science
In the latter half of the 20th century, holism led to systems thinking
and its derivatives, like the sciences of chaos and complexity. Systems
in biology, psychology, or sociology are frequently so complex that
their behavior appears "new" or "emergent". It cannot be deduced from
the properties of the elements alone. (Bertalanffy 1968, 54.)
But scientists who find themselves unable to explain the behavior of
their systems from the properties of elements may incorrectly cite
holism even if the system in question happens to behave in accord with a
conceivable (but unseen) statistical explanation. Holism has thus been
used as a catchword to This contributed to the
resistance encountered by the scientific interpretation of holism, which
insists that there are ontological reasons that prevent reductive models
in principle from providing efficient algorithms for prediction of
system behavior in certain classes of systems.
Scientific holism holds that the behavior of a system cannot be
perfectly predicted, no matter how much data is available. Simple
systems can produce surprisingly unexpected behavior, and it is
suspected that behavior of such systems might be computationally
irreducible, which means it would not be possible to even approximate
the system state without a full simulation of all the events occurring
in the system. Key properties of the higher level behavior of certain
classes of systems may be mediated by rare "surprises" in the behavior
of their elements, thus evading predictions except by brute force
simulation. Steven Wolfram has provided such examples with simple
cellular automata, whose behavior is in most cases equally simple, but
on rare occasions highly unpredictable.
Complexity theory (also called "science of complexity"), is a
contemporary heir of systems thinking. It comprises a holistic,
'bottom-up' approach towards understanding complex adaptive systems and
as such its methods can be seen as the polar opposite to reductive
methods. A general theory of complexity has been realized, and numerous
complexity institutes and departments have sprung up around the world.
The Santa Fe Institute is arguably the most famous of them.
Holism in philosophy
In philosophy, any doctrine that emphasizes the priority of a whole over
its parts is holism. In the philosophy of language this becomes the
claim, called semantic holism, that the meaning of an individual word or
sentence can only be understood in terms of its relations to a larger
body of language, even a whole theory or a whole language. In the
philosophy of mind, a mental state may be identified only in terms of
its relations with others. This is often referred to as content holism
or holism of the mental.
Epistemological and confirmation holism are mainstream ideas in
contemporary philosophy.
Holism in medicine
Holism appears in psychosomatic medicine. In the 1970s the holistic
approach was considered one possible way to conceptualize psychosomatic
phenomena. Instead of charting one-way causal links from psyche to soma,
or vice-versa, it aimed at a systemic model, where multiple biological,
psychological and social factors were seen as interlinked. Other,
alternative approaches at that time were psychosomatic and somatopsychic
approaches, which concentrated on causal links only from psyche to soma,
or from soma to psyche, respectively. (Lipowski 1977) At present it is
commonplace in psychosomatic medicine to state that psyche and soma
cannot really be separated for practical or theoretical purposes. A
disturbance on any level - somatic, psychic, or social - will radiate to
all the other levels, too. In this sense, psychosomatic thinking is
similar to the biopsychosocial model of medicine.
In alternative medicine, a holistic approach to healing recognizes that
the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical elements of each person
comprise a system, and attempts to treat the whole person in its
context,[1] concentrating on the cause of the illness as well as
symptoms. Examples of such holistic therapies include Acupuncture,
Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Osteopathic manipulation, Naturopathic
medicine, Qi Gong, Reiki, and Reflexology. Some of these schools do not
originate from the western medical-scientific tradition, and lack
scientific evidence to verify their claims. Others, such as osteopathic
medicine, make an attempt to blend allopathic medicine with other
modalities.
Holism in sociology
Emile Durkheim developed a concept of holism which he opposed to the
notion that a society was nothing more than a simple collection of
individuals. In more recent times, Louis Dumont (1984) has contrasted
"holism" to "individualism" as two different forms of societies.
According to him, modern humans live in an individualist society,
whereas ancient Greek society, for example, could be qualified as
"holistic", because the individual found identity in the whole society.
Thus, the individual was ready to sacrifice himself or herself for his
or her community, as his or her life without the polis had no sense
whatsoever.
Holism in economics
With roots in Schumpeter, the evolutionary approach might be considered
the holist theory in economics. They share certain language from the
biological evolutionary approach. They take into account how the
innovation system evolve overtime. Knowledge and know-how, know-who,
know-what and know-why are part of the whole business economics.
Knowledge can also be tacit, as described by Polanyi. These models are
open, and consider that it is hard to predict exactly the impact of a
policy measure. They are also less mathematical.
Teleological holism in psychology
Alfred Adler believed that the individual (an integrated whole expressed
through a self-consistent unity of thinking, feeling, and action, moving
toward an unconscious, fictional final goal), must be understood within
the larger wholes of society, from the groups to which he belongs
(starting with his face-to-face relationships), to the larger whole of
mankind. The recognition of our social embeddedness and the need for
developing an interest in the welfare of others, as well as a respect
for nature, is at the heart of Adler's philosophy of living and
principles of psychotherapy.
Edgar Morin, the French philosopher and sociobiologist, can be
considered a holist based on the transdisciplinary nature of his work.
Holism in anthropology
There is an ongoing dispute on the definition of anthropology as
holistic and the "four-field" approach. Supporters of this
definition,[2] consider it holistic in two senses: it is concerned with
all human beings across times and places, and with all dimensions of
humanity (evolutionary, biophysical, sociopolitical, economic, cultural,
psychological, etc.); also many academic programs following this
approach take a "four-field" approach to anthropology that encompasses
physical anthropology, archeology, linguistics, and cultural
anthropology or social anthropology. The definition of anthropology as
holistic and the "four-field" approach are disputed by leading
anthropologist,[3] that consider those as artifacts from 19th century
social evolutionary thought that inappropriately impose scientific
positivism upon cultural anthropology.[3]
Holism in theological anthropology
In theological anthropology, which belongs to theology and not to
anthropology, holism is the belief that the nature of humans consists of
an indivisible union of components such as body, soul and spirit.
Holism in education reform
The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives identifies many levels of
cognitive functioning, which can be used to create a more holistic
education. In authentic assessment, rather than using computers to score
multiple choice test, a standards based assessment uses trained scorers
to score open-response items using holistic scoring methods.[4] In
projects such as the North Carolina Writing Project, scorers are
instructed not to count errors, or count numbers of points or supporting
statements. The scorer is instead, instruct to judge holistically
whether "as a whole" is it more a "2" or a "3". Critics question whether
such a process can be as objective as computer scoring, and the degree
to which such scoring methods can result in different scores from
different scorers.
Notes
1. ^ Definition holism
2. ^ Shore, Bradd (1999) Strange Fate of Holism. Anthropology News
40(9): 4-5.
3. ^ a b Segal, Daniel A.; Sylvia J. Yanagisako (eds.), James Clifford,
Ian Hodder, Rena Lederman, Michael Silverstein (2005). Unwrapping the
Sacred Bundle: Reflections on the Disciplining of Anthropology. Duke
University Press.
4. ^ Rubrics (Authentic Assessment Toolbox) "So, when might you use a
holistic rubric? Holistic rubrics tend to be used when a quick or gross
judgment needs to be made" [1]
References
* Bertalanffy, Ludvig von: General System Theory. Foundations
Development Applications. Allen Lane 1971 (1968)
* Lipowski, Z.J.: "Psychosomatic medicine in seventies". Am. J. Psych.
134:3:233-244
* Smuts, Jan C.: Holism and Evolution, 1926 MacMillan, Compass/Viking
Press 1961 reprint: ISBN 0-598-63750-8, Greenwood Press 1973 reprint:
ISBN 0-8371-6556-3, Sierra Sunrise 1999 (mildly edited): ISBN
1-887263-14-4
* Leenhardt, M. Do Kamo. La personne et le mythe dans le monde
mélanésien. Gallimard. Paris. 1947.
Further reading
* Hayek, F.A. von. The Counter-revolution of Science. Studies on the
abuse of reason. Free Press. New York. 1957.
* Mandelbaum, M. Societal Facts in Gardner 1959.
* Phillips, D.C. Holistic Thought in Social Science. Stanford University
Press. Stanford. 1976.
* Dreyfus, H.L. Holism and Hermeneutics in The Review of Metaphysics.
34. pp. 3-23.
* James, S. The Content of Social Explanation. Cambridge University
Press. Cambridge, 1984.
* Harrington, A. Reenchanted Science: Holism in German Culture from
Wilhelm II to Hitler. Princeton University Press. 1996.
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