Any organism must be treated as-a-whole; in other words, that an organism is not an algebraic sum, a linear function of its elements, but always more than that. It is seemingly little realized, at present, that this simple and innocent-looking statement involves a full structural revision of our language...
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Organisms are holistic systems, not just sums of parts, requiring language revision.
- In plain terms
- A living thing is more than the list of its parts.
- What can you take from it?
- Treat systems as wholes, not parts.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When do parts matter more than the whole?
- How does your language reflect holism?
Another view
Reductionism still works well in some contexts.
More from Alfred Korzybski
The word is not the thing.
Permalink to quote #1 If we consider that all we deal with represents constantly changing sub-microscopic, interrelated processes which are not, and cannot be 'identical with themse…
Permalink to quote #3 The only link between the verbal and objective world is exclusively structural, necessitating the conclusion that the only content of all 'knowledge' is struct…
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
The whole, though larger than any of its parts, does not necessarily obscure their separate identities.
William O. DouglasWilliam O. Douglas quote #1 We may, I believe, anticipate that the chemist of the future who is interested in the structure of proteins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, and other complex …
Linus PaulingLinus Pauling quote #2 ... the tendency in nature to form wholes that are greater than the sum of the parts through creative evolution ...
Jan Christiaan SmutsJan Christiaan Smuts quote #2