holismn.
/ˈhəʊlɪz(ə)m/, /ˈhɒlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈhoʊlˌɪzəm/ A term coined by General J. C. Smuts (1870–1950) to designate the tendency in nature to produce wholes (i.e. bodies or organisms) from the ordered grouping of unit structures. Cf. holistic adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > [noun] > doctrine or study of
holism1926
wholism1928
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > theoretical scientific philosophy > [noun] > holism and its adherents
holism1926
holist1937
1926 J. C. Smuts Holism & Evol. 99 The whole-making, holistic tendency, or Holism, operating in and through particular wholes, is seen at all stages of existence.
1945 Word 1 i. 109 Haldane suggested for this movement [in biology] the name ‘holism’; others preferred to call it ‘organicism’. To my mind, this new holism or organicism bears a close relationship to linguistic structuralism.
1952 C. P. Blacker Eugenics: Galton & After x. 240 The principle of monism is much the same as that of General J. C. Smuts's holism.
1959 Times 11 Dec. 15/1 Holism has at last penetrated departments of nutrition, and a new school of nutrition has arisen which realizes that the integration of nutrition, health and disease is a problem that must be attacked on a wide front.
1964 Listener 21 May 825/1 I mentioned the unresolved conflict between the atomistic psychology of the Behaviourists and the somewhat schematic holism of the Gestalt school.
Derivatives
holist n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > theoretical scientific philosophy > [noun] > holism and its adherents
holism1926
holist1937
1937 ‘C. Caudwell’ Illusion & Reality ix. 180 A large portion of reality will be conveniently removed to the sphere of religion, as among the vitalists, holists, entelechists and spiritualists generally.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1926