The complete is more than the sum of its pieces.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A whole system has value or properties that individual parts do not.
- In plain terms
- A whole is greater than its separate parts.
- What can you take from it?
- Wholes possess emergent properties beyond parts.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When does the whole not matter?
- Can parts replace the whole?
Another view
Sometimes a whole is merely the sum of its parts.
More from Aristotle
The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.
Permalink to quote #133 The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.
Permalink to quote #135 The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Permalink to quote #132
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