Experiments in Holism
Experiments in Holism

Author: Ton Otto

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-08-02

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1444351850

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Experiments in Holism Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology presents a series of essays that critically examine the ongoing relevance of holism and its theoretical and methodological potential in today’s world. Contributions from a diverse collection of leading anthropologists reveal how recent critiques of the holistic approach have not led to its wholesale rejection, but rather to a panoply of experiments that critically reassess and reemploy holism. The essays focus on aspects of holism including its utilization in current ethnographic research, holistic considerations in cultural anthropology, the French structuralist tradition, the predominantly English tradition of social anthropology, and many others. Collectively, the essays show how holism is simultaneously central to, and problematically a part of, the theory and practice of anthropology. Experiments in Holism reveals how contemporary attempts to rescale and retool anthropology entail new ways of coming to terms with anthropology’s heritage of holism, seeking to obviate its current excesses while recapturing its critical potential to meet the challenges of our contemporary world.

Holism and Reductionism in Biology and Ecology
Holism and Reductionism in Biology and Ecology

Author: Rick C. Looijen

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 9401595607

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Holism and reductionism are traditionally seen as incompatible views or approaches to nature. Here Looijen argues that they should rather be seen as mutually dependent and hence co-operating research programmes. He sheds some interesting new light on the emergence thesis, its relation to the reduction thesis, and on the role and status of functional explanations in biology. He discusses several examples of reduction in both biology and ecology, showing the mutual dependence of holistic and reductionist research programmes. Ecologists are offered separate chapters, clarifying some major, yet highly and controversial ecological concepts, such as `community', `habitat', and `niche'. The book is the first in-depth study of the philosophy of ecology. Readership: Specialists in the philosophy of science, especially the philosophy of biology, biologists and ecologists interested in the philosophy of their discipline. Also of interest to other scientists concerned with the holism-reductionism issue.

Duhem and Holism
Duhem and Holism

Author: Milena Ivanova

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-07-29

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 1009020145

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The holistic thesis developed by Pierre Duhem challenges the idea that our evidence can conclusively falsify a theory. Given that no scientific theory is tested in isolation, a negative experiment can always be attributed to components other than the theory we test – to the auxiliary hypotheses and background assumptions. How do scientists decide whether the experimental result undermines the theory or points at an error in the underlying assumptions? Duhem argues that we cannot offer a rule that directs when the scientist should employ a radical or conservative strategy in light of a negative result, and ultimately they will appeal to their intuition. More recently philosophers have offered a number of strategies of how to locate error and justify the abandonment of a theory or an auxiliary hypothesis. This Element analyses Duhem's response to holism and subsequent accounts of how the problem can be resolved.

Rethinking the Individualism-Holism Debate
Rethinking the Individualism-Holism Debate

Author: Julie Zahle

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-06-05

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 3319053442

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This collection of papers investigates the most recent debates about individualism and holism in the philosophy of social science. The debates revolve mainly around two issues: firstly, whether social phenomena exist sui generis and how they relate to individuals. This is the focus of discussions between ontological individualists and ontological holists. Secondly, to what extent social scientific explanations may and should, focus on individuals and social phenomena respectively. This issue is debated amongst methodological holists and methodological individualists. In social science and philosophy, both issues have been intensively discussed and new versions of the dispute have appeared just as new arguments have been advanced. At present, the individualism/holism debate is extremely lively and this book reflects the major positions and perspectives within the debate. This volume is also relevant to debates about two closely related issues in social science: the micro-macro debate and the agency-structure debate. This book presents contributions from key figures in both social science and philosophy, in the first such collection on this topic to be published since the 1970s.

Compendium of Quantum Physics
Compendium of Quantum Physics

Author: Daniel Greenberger

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-07-25

Total Pages: 901

ISBN-13: 3540706267

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With contributions by leading quantum physicists, philosophers and historians, this comprehensive A-to-Z of quantum physics provides a lucid understanding of key concepts of quantum theory and experiment. It covers technical and interpretational aspects alike, and includes both traditional and new concepts, making it an indispensable resource for concise, up-to-date information about the many facets of quantum physics.

The Holistic Artist
The Holistic Artist

Author: Heath Hollensbe

Publisher: Elysian Society Press

Published: 2018-04-09

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13: 9781732176904

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Calling all artists and creatives! The time to create is now and you are the person to do it! Sadly, much of the art we see today is not worthy of holding the title of "art." The reason? We see examples that reveal constraints imposed by the creator rather than art embodying the freedom of design; much of what we view is regurgitated self-expression rather than actual art. In "The Holistic Artist," Hollensbe and Hyndman spin 40 angles of the purpose of art, and argue that a more holistic "you" is the only way to produce awe-inspiring and world-changing art. Give art your strength, not your need... then step back, buckle up and watch what explodes.

Donald Davidson and the Mirror of Meaning
Donald Davidson and the Mirror of Meaning

Author: Jeff Malpas

Publisher: CUP Archive

Published: 1992-10-29

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780521417211

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This book discusses the ideas of Donald Davidson, on the nature of understanding and meaning, and the nature of truth and knowledge, providing an account of Davidson's holistic and hermeneutical conception of linguistic interpretation, and, more generally, of the mind.

Holism in Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Physics
Holism in Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Physics

Author: M. Esfeld

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-09

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9401717877

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The Scope of the Project The concept of holism is at the centre of far-reaching changes in various areas of philosophy in the second half of the twentieth century. Holism in epistemology and the philosophy of mind is widespread among analytic philosophers subsequent to the work of the later Wittgenstein and to Quine's "Two Dogmas of Empiricism". Roughly speaking, the claim is that (a) for a person to have beliefs, a social, linguistic community is required and that (b) single beliefs have a meaning only within a whole system of beliefs. Furthermore, holism is discussed in science, in particular in the interpretation of quantum physics. In fact, the term "holism" goes back to Smuts (1926), who introduces this term in a biological context. I Holism in any of these areas has considerable consequences for our philosophical view of the world and ourselves. Holism in quantum physics is said to refute atomism, which has been predominant in modem philosophy of nature. Holism in epistemology and the philosophy of mind is seen as an alternative to what is known as the Cartesian tradition, which dominated modem thought down to logical empiricism.