* Holism (from 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 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."
Holism as a health concept has existed for ages outside of academic circles, but only relatively recently has the modern medical establishment begun to integrate it into the mainstream health care system. In the United States, the first National Conference on Holistic Health was conducted by the Health Optimizing Institute with the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in June 1975.
Holism refers to the idea that an entity is greater than the sum of its parts. In the case of health, the entity in question is the human body. Holistic concepts of health and fitness view achieving and maintaining good health as involving more than just taking care of all the various components that make up the physical body attention must be paid to aspects such as emotional and spiritual well-being as well. The goal is a wellness that encompasses the entire person, rather than just the lack of physical pain or disease.
* 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.
* Holism in Science, or Holistic science:
Is an approach to research that emphasizes the study of complex systems. This practice is in contrast to a purely analytic tradition (sometimes called reductionism) which purports to understand systems by dividing them into their smallest possible or discernible elements and understanding their elemental properties alone. The holism/reductionism dichotomy is often evident in conflicting interpretations of experimental findings and in setting priorities for future research.
Holism in science is an approach to research that emphasizes the study of complex systems. Two central aspects are:
1. the way of doing science, sometimes called "whole to parts," which focuses on observation of the specimen within its ecosystem first before breaking down to study any part of the specimen.
2. the idea that the scientist is not a passive observer of an external universe; that there is no 'objective truth,' but that the individual is in a reciprocal, participatory relationship with nature, and that the observer's contribution to the process is valuable.
The term Holistic Science has been used as a category encompassing a number of scientific research fields (see some examples below). The term may not have a precise definition. Fields of scientific research considered potentially holistic do however have certain things in common.
First, they are multidisciplinary. Second, they are concerned with the behavior of complex systems. Third, they recognize feedback within systems as a crucial element for understanding their behavior.
The Santa Fe Institute, a center of holistic scientific research in the United States, expresses it like this: The two dominant characteristics of the SFI research style are commitment to a multidisciplinary approach and an emphasis on the study of problems that involve complex interactions among their constituent parts. Santa Fe Institute's Research Topics. Retrieved on January 22, 2006.
* Chaos Theory:
Limits to reductionism have become apparent in recent years, most strikingly in the Mathematics of Chaos Theory, and from the work of Benoit Mandelbrot. These ideas are best known in the metaphor of the "butterfly effect"[1], first recognised by a meteorologist, Edward Norton Lorenz, who noted that his deterministic differential equations model of climate systems was unexpectedly sensitive to initial conditions. This finding was expressed famously (and variously) as implying that the flap of a butterfly's wings in a jungle in South America was enough to "cause" a hurricane on the other side of the world. This insight, that complex non-linear systems can produce inherently unpredictable behavior, seemed to set limits on the ability to "explain" complex behavior by any deterministic description, by setting limits on their "predictability" and "measurability". Subsequently, the work of Stephen Wolfram, Stuart Kaufmann and others explored how chaos can be "harnessed", by exploring how organised behaviors can arise in a structured way from complex systems, giving rise to the modern concepts of emergent behavior and self-organisation.
* Cognitive Science:
The field of cognitive science, or the study of mind and intelligence has some examples for holistic approaches. These include Unified Theory of Cognition (Allen Newell, e.g. Soar, ACT-R as models) and many others, many of which rely on the concept of emergence, i.e. the interplay of many entities make up a functioning whole. Another example is psychological nativism, the study of the innate structure of the mind. Non-holistic functionalist approaches within cognitive science include e.g. the modularity of mind paradigm.
Cognitive science need not concern only human cognition. Biologist Marc Bekoff has done holistic, interdisciplinary scientific research in animal cognition and has published a book about it (see below).
* Complexity Theory:
Another area of intense holistic scientific research is complexity theory. Research in this area began in 1984 with the establishment of the Santa Fe Institute by physicist Murray Gell-Mann, and this institute remains a driving force in the field.
* Integral Theory:
Not a scientific field in itself, and interdisciplinary by definition, integral theory is the pursuit of knowledge through a combination of scientific and spiritual approaches. The fundamental proposition of integral theory is that both science and spirituality are legitimate domains of human experience and are both essential to an understanding of the world. Mainstream scientists, by contrast, when interpreting scientific findings typically subordinate, ignore, or deny spiritual experience. Integral theorists believe that their new approach will open new avenues of scientific inquiry in the future. Prominent integral theorists include Jean Gebser, Teilhard de Chardin, and the contemporary thinker Ken Wilber.
* Medicine:
In addition to the wealth of complementary and alternative approaches to medicine, many of which are viewed with suspicion or even outright hostility by the mainstream medical community, orthomolecular medicine and orthomolecular psychiatry, pioneered by noted physicist and peace activist Linus Pauling, represent an alternative approach to medicine that makes greater use of laboratory testing to vary the concentration of substances normally present in the body to prevent and treat disease.
* Neural Networks and Artificial Intelligence:
Another category of holistic research consists of attempts to simulate the human brain or build systems that function along the same lines as the human brain. The field as a whole is called artificial intelligence and the subfield neural networks in particular can be considered holistic, as it is based on the assumption that connections and feedback between simple nodes arranged in a system, or network, can give rise to behavior similar to intelligent or cognition-based behavior.
* Quantum Physics:
Physicist David Bohm put forward an interpretation of quantum theory that reconciles it with an idea of the universe as an undivided whole, any division of which (e.g. into observer and observed) can only be arbitrary. Despite its elegant simplicity and distinct advantages, this holistic interpretation was given at best an ambivalent reception by mainstream scientists. Recently, however (from the 1990s to the present) Bohm's reputation in the field of quantum physics has grown, though many of his holistic ideas remain in dispute.
* Systems Biology and Systems Ecology:
Fledgling transdisciplines which apply holistic approaches to the study of biology and ecology to gain insights into the functioning of entire.
* Holistic Medicine:
Treats the whole body rather than affected parts. Holistic Medicine is a form of treatment and prevention of illness that realises that a person's mind, surroundings, lifestyle and more can affect their body's physical well-being.
* Holistic Health:
Refers to a philosophy of medical care that views physical and mental aspects of life as closely interconnected and equally important approaches to treatment. While frequently associated with alternative medicine, it is also increasingly used in mainstream medical practice as part of a broad view of patient care.
Holistic Health is not itself a method of treatment, but instead an approach to how treatment should be applied. Traditional medical philosophy treats physical symptoms, using standardized methods such as the prescription of drugs or the undertaking of surgery, while the patient is only passively involved. Practices emphasizing holistic health, on the other hand believe that they are treating the whole person. Practitioners of holistic medicine believe that attitudes affect the present condition, and the patient may play an active role in the healing process.
* Holistic Health History:
Holism as a health concept has existed for ages outside of academic circles, but only relatively recently has the modern medical establishment begun to integrate it into the mainstream health care system. In the United States, the first National Conference on Holistic Health was conducted by the Health Optimizing Institute with the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in June 1975.
* Holistic Health Philosophy:
Holism refers to the idea that an entity is greater than the sum of its parts. In the case of health, the entity in question is the human body. Holistic concepts of health and fitness view achieving and maintaining good health as involving more than just taking care of all the various components that make up the physical body—attention must be paid to aspects such as emotional and spiritual well-being as well. The goal is a wellness that encompasses the entire person, rather than just the lack of physical pain or disease.
Holistic health is not itself a method of treatment, but instead an approach to how treatment should be applied. Traditional medical philosophy treats physical symptoms, using standardized methods such as the prescription of drugs or the undertaking of surgery, while the patient is only passively involved. Practices emphasizing holistic health, on the other hand believe that they are treating the whole person. Practitioners of holistic medicine believe that attitudes affect the present condition, and the patient may play an active role in the healing process.
*Criticism:
Some holistic health advocates subscribe to alternative medical practices which conventional medicine does not support. Some common practices such as acupuncture and chiropractic have not received total acceptance by supporters of evidence-based medicine, who require rigorous scientific testing before incorporating them in to a course of treatment. As some treatments lack experimental evidence, they do not receive widespread acceptance in the public health care system.
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