(From xrefer com) This is the doctrine that societies should be seen as wholes, or as systems of interacting parts Analysis should, therefore, start from large-scale institutions and their relationships, not from the behaviour of individual actors Societies, in this view, have properties as wholes which cannot be deduced from the characteristics of individuals
the theory that the parts of any whole cannot exist and cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole; "holism holds that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"; "holistic theory has been applied to ecology and language and mental states
Refers to the integration of mind, body, and spirit of a person and emphasizes the importance of perceiving the individual (regarding physical symptoms) in a "whole" sense Holism teaches that the health care system must extend its focus beyond solely the physical aspects of disease and particular organ in question, to concern itself with the whole person and the interrelationships between the emotional, social, spiritual, as well as physical implications of disease and health
Worldview, considering all phenomena interdependent in space and time The term holism is a neologism, composed during the 1920's by Jan Smuts, prime minister of South Africa It is based on the greek word holos, complete or integral
Holism is the belief that everything in nature is connected in some way. In the philosophy of the social sciences, the view that denies that all large-scale social events and conditions are ultimately explicable in terms of the individuals who participated in, enjoyed, or suffered them. Methodological holism maintains that at least some social phenomena must be studied at their own autonomous, macroscopic level of analysis, that at least some social "wholes" are not reducible to or completely explicable in terms of individuals' behaviour (see emergence). Semantic holism denies the claim that all meaningful statements about large-scale social phenomena (e.g., "The industrial revolution resulted in urbanization") can be translated without residue into statements about the actions, attitudes, relations, and circumstances of individuals
the view that wholes have some priority over the elements, members, individuals or parts composing them Social holism claims that individuals can be understood only in terms of the practices or institutions in which they take part and is a rival to some aspects of individualism Methodological holism and methodological individualism propose different methodological constraints on the study of phenomena without pronouncing on their real constitution, while metaphysical holism claims that wholes are distinct entities, whose existence cannot be reduced to that of the items composing them Holistic views in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of language propose that the meaning and truth of our claims cannot be assessed one by one, but must be assessed as part of theories, bodies of theory, or all we believe about the world
The doctrine that the universe-including life in all its forms and the inorganic environment -- is correctly seen in terms of interacting wholes that are more than the mere sum of elementary particles
The idea that ``the whole is greater than the sum of the parts '' Holism is credible on the basis of emergence alone, since reductionism and bottom-up descriptions of nature often fail to predict complex higher- level patterns [Gary William Flake, Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation, MIT Press, 1998] http: //mitpress mit edu/books/FLAOH/cbnhtml/glossary-intro html
Perception or study in terms of the whole rather than individual parts A holistic reading of scripture would take, for example, an entire biblical book as it stands and look for how it works together as a whole, rather than dividing it into smaller parts for individual study, or trying to distinguish which parts came from where
meaning the whole (sometimes spelled wholistic), more specifically meaning that all things are connected, there is cause & effect in a holistic understanding, though we often have to search a little harder for the cause than in a simple newtonian world
is a term used often in complementary and alternative therapies to emphasize and describe the whole body approach - the integration of mind, body and spirit
{s} of or pertaining to holism; focusing on the connection between parts of a whole; dealing with wholeness rather than focusing on its parts or different sides or viewpoints
Of, concerned with, or dealing with wholes or integrated systems rather than with their parts With respect to water-related issues, the term most typically describes an analytical and planning approach which examines and considers the inter-related linkages and interdependencies of a socioeconomic system with resource use, pollution, environmental impacts, and preservation of an entire ecosystem
The integration of components of an ecosystem in some scale of ecological inquiry In a holistic perspective, one ecosystem component cannot be isolated without reference to how it affects and is affected by other components in the system
An attempt to study and master the knowledge and control of entire systems An emphasis on functional relations between parts and whole; a doctrine in which a whole cannot be expressed as the simple sum of its parts
Looking at the whole system rather than just concentrating on individual components The overall sum can be greater than a simple totaling of the individual parts, because the "system" adds something in addition Another term is "systems thinking"
Sometimes spelt wholistic It means targeted to the whole person - mind, body, and spirit Holistic medicine considers not only physical health but also the emotional, spiritual, social, and mental well-being of the person
Dealing with the patient as a whole human being-physical, mental, emotional, spiritual- as distinct from conventional medicine's view that physical ailments are separate and unrelated to non-physical aspects such as emotional state and belief system
Able to perceive and understand the "big picture" without dwelling on individual elements of an idea, concept, or situation Can see the forest as contrasted with the trees
Able to perceive and understand the "big picture" without dwelling on individual elements of an idea, concept, or situation Can see the wood as contrasted with the trees
- refers to the art and science of seeing wholes rather than just parts including the relationship of the parts to the whole Its opposite is reductionism See also systems approach
adj 1 Encompassing the whole of something; overall; inclusive 2 From the theory that studying a whole culture or organism is a more productive than studying its parts or symptoms individually
Describes therapies based on facts about the "whole person," including spiritual and mental aspects, not only the specific part of the body being treated Holistic practitioners may advise changes in diet, physical activity, and other lifestyle factors to help treat a patient's condition