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Holism and holistic are terms coined by Jan Smuts in the early 1920s.
Smuts's definition of holism, as given in the Oxford English Dictionary, reads
Critics claim holism is an attempted merger of creationism (creative tendency) and evolutionism (creative evolution).
Physics Certain quantum phenomena seem to arise only in systems and cannot be explained by the interaction of the system's individual parts alone. This is a suggestion, not a fact or law.
Metaphysics Phenomena such as life, mind and conscience only arise in systems. This means these things cannot be explained by the study of nerves, cells or atoms. Many religions take a holistic approach to consciousness.
One theory of holism is based on the hypothesis that nature consists of a hierarchy of "wholes" (also called " holons", a term created by Arthur Koestler). These "wholes" are quarks, protons, atoms, molecules, minerals, cellstained for keratin The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms. Some organisms, such as bacteria, are unicellular, consisting of a single cell. Other organisms, such as humans, are multicellular, (humans have an estimated 100,0s, tissues, organismIn biology and ecology, an organism is a living being. The origin of life and the relationships between its major lineages are controversial. Two main grades may be distinguished, the prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The prokaryotes are generally considered tos, populationFor the use of the word population in statistics, see statistical population. In the most common sense of the word, a population is the collection of people—or organisms of a particular species—living in a given geographic area. Populations are studied ins.
Hence, a large-scale body, such as the biosphereA biosphere is that part of a planet's terrestrial system— including air, land and water— in which life develops, and which life processes in turn transform. It is the collective creation of a variety of organisms and species which form the diversity of t cannot be understood by only studying the elements, but should be considered as a whole entity, studied through the different hierarchical levels, and with the different relations between the different elements.
However, holism also means an objectAs used in philosophy, in general, an object is something that can have properties and relations. Hence a particular object is, basically, either a particular material body or a particular mind--or, on a neutral monist view, a particular that can be viewe or a system can be recognised as a type, only with a few well-chosen characteristics. Hence, it is the basis of classificationClassification may refer to: Taxonomic classification the act of placing an object or concept into a set of categories (such as a taxonomy or a subject index), based on the properties of the object or concept. A person may classify the object or concept a or typologyThe word typology literally means the study of types. Beyond this simple definition, the term has at least four distinct uses in the fields listed below: Archaeology Typology is the classification of things according to their characteristics, and has seen. Soil, vegetation (land cover), biomes are commonly considered as wholes and hence can be classified using a set of diagnostic characteristics (see for example land classification).
The field of systems thinking has been developed in recent years to tackle a wide range of issues using holistic concepts.