Subject: Re: Holistic Science (fwd)
From: [email-masked] (Larry London)
Date: 23 Jun 1994 03:32:10 -0000
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 10:10:00 +0600
From: Jim Mcnelly <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Holistic Science

Subject: Re: Holistic Science

This message was originally addressed to Leo Elliott [[email-masked]]
and a carbon copy was sent to you.
                    ----------------------------------------
This message was from GORDON ALLEN R to ALL
originally in conference misc.educatio on GRANITE (Granite City BBS)
and was forwarded to you by JIM MCNELLY
                    ----------------------------------------
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Newsgroup: misc.education.science
Organization: University of Colorado at Boulder

What holistic science seems to refer to (pardon the dangling participle) is
really the science of systems (see von Bertallanfy  "General Systems Theory"
as well as others).

      The scientific study of "wholes" and "wholeness", which was previously
considered to be "metaphysical notions transcending the boundaries of
science", was essentially developed by von Bertalanffy. He asserts that
"modern technology and society have become so complex that traditional ways
and means are not sufficient any more but approaches of a holistic or systems
and generalist or interdisciplinary nature become necessary".   An extension
to general systems theory (GST) was first developed by Miller (Living Systems,
1968).  Living
Systems Theory (LST) asserts that in any of the 8 levels of living systems
(cells, organs, organisms,..., societies, supranational systems), there are
some 20 critical subsystems that carry out the essential life processes.  An
essential aspect of living systems, is that they are open systems, maintaining
within their boundaries, thermodynamically improbable energetic states, by
continuous interaction with the environment.

Present day science is dominated by the "analytical method" which
is one that attempts to resolve the entity under investigation into
its components parts with the implication that the system can be reconstituted
from those parts (von Bertalanffy, 1968, p18).  While these principles of
classical science that date back to Galileo and Descartes and are highly
successful for describing a wide variety of phenomena, they are none-the-less
limited.  According to von Bertalanffy, the analytical procedure depends upon
two conditions:  1) that the interaction between the parts is weak enough to
be neglected and 2) the behavior of the parts is linear.  The antithesis of
these principles is the half-metaphysical statement:  "The whole is greater
than the sum of its parts".
      It is clear that the conditions described above are not fulfilled in
entities called systems, particularly in complex, living systems.  Living
systems exist in highly improbable states, far from equilibrium, a state that
lies at the root of nonlinear, irreversible thermodynamics (Prigogine and
Stengers, "Order out of Chaos, 1984).  Such systems are capable self-
organization, of which life
"appears as the supreme expression of the self-organizing processes that
occur" (Prigogine and Stengers, 1984, p 175).  It would seem that self-
organizing processes go hand-in-hand with health.  Attempts at mathematical
descriptions of such systems, which would require sets of non-linear
equations, are bound to fail, since 6 of the 9 classes of non-linear equations
are impossible to solve (von Bertalanffy, p 20).  The other three classes of
non-linear equations are classified as very difficult.  Further, even the
simplest non-linear equation, the logistic equation, exhibits extremely
complex behavior that is far from predictable (May, Nature, 261:459, 1976).
Thus, it is hubris
to think that the complex behavior called life, of even the simplest organism,

can be understood by studying the parts,
or even a small group of parts.  Understanding such systems requires new
modalities of thinking, developing new paradigms for health.  Mitroff and
Churchman (General Systems Bulletin, 1992, p7-10) and Watt (General Systems
Bulletin, 1992, p 10 - 14) reconstitution of the fundamentals of science
itself.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.  Capra (Turning Point, 1982) goes into
much more detail, as do Prigogine and Stengers.  It touches on every aspect of
our lives:  health care, politics, psychology, economics, and how we view our-
selves and the world around us.

Allen Gordon

--
Allen Gordon            *If the folly of but one of us was changed to*
Research Associate           *intelligence, and divided amongst a thousand*
[email-masked]     *toads, each would be more intelligent than  *
     *Aristotle          *

cc: Michael Million [[email-masked]]
    Byron Belitsos [[email-masked]]
    Lawrence London [[email-masked]]
    Phil Calabrese [[email-masked]]
    John Roper [[email-masked]]