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Holarchical System
A holarchy is a connection between holons, where a ''holon'' is both a part and a whole. The term was coined in Arthur Koestler's 1967 book ''The Ghost in the Machine''. Holarchy is commonly referred to as a form of hierarchy; however, hierarchy, by its definition, has both an absolute top and bottom. But this is not logically possible in a holon, as it is both a whole and a part. The "hierarchical relationship" between holons at different levels can just as meaningfully be described with terms like "in and out", as they can with "up and down" or "left and right"; perhaps more generally, one can say that holons at one level are "made up of, or make up" the holons or parts of another level. This can be demonstrated in the holarchic relationship (subatomic particles ↔ atoms ↔ molecules ↔ macromolecules ↔ organelles ↔ cells ↔ tissues ↔ organs ↔ organisms ↔ communities ↔ societies) where each holon is a "level" of organization, and all are ultimately descriptive o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holon (philosophy)
A holon (, from , ''holos'', 'whole' and , ''-on'', 'part') is something that is simultaneously a whole in and of itself, as well as a part of a larger whole. In other words, holons can be understood as the constituent part–wholes of a hierarchy.Edwards, Mark. 2003 October.A brief history of the concept of holons" ''Integral World''. The holon represents a way to overcome the dichotomy between parts and wholes, as well as a way to account for both the self-assertive and the integrative tendencies of organisms. The term was coined by Arthur Koestler in '' The Ghost in the Machine'' (1967). In Koestler's formulations, a holon is something that has integrity and identity while simultaneously being a part of a larger system; it is a subsystem of a greater system. Holons are sometimes discussed in the context of self-organizing holarchic open (SOHO) systems. History Precursors The concept of hierarchy and of their constituent part–wholes (or, holons) has existed for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecological Anthropology
Ecological anthropology is a sub-field of anthropology and is defined as the "study of cultural adaptations to environments". The sub-field is also defined as, "the study of relationships between a population of humans and their biophysical environment". The focus of its research concerns "how cultural beliefs and practices helped human populations adapt to their environments, and how people used elements of their culture to maintain their ecosystems". Ecological anthropology developed from the approach of cultural ecology, and it provided a conceptual framework more suitable for scientific inquiry than the cultural ecology approach. Research pursued under this approach aims to study a wide range of human responses to environmental problems. Ecological anthropologist, Conrad Kottak published arguing there is an original older 'functionalist', apolitical style ecological anthropology and, as of the time of writing in 1999, a 'new ecological anthropology' was emerging and being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holacracy
Holacracy is a method of decentralized management and organizational governance, which claims to distribute authority and decision-making through a holarchy of self-organizing teams rather than being vested in a management hierarchy. Holacracy has been adopted by for-profit and non-profit organizations in several countries. This can be seen as a greater movement within organisational design to cope with increasing complex social environments, that promises a greater degree of transparency, effectiveness and agility. The New York Times wrote in 2015 that "The goal of Holacracy is to create a dynamic workplace where everyone has a voice and bureaucracy doesn’t stifle innovation." The Wall Street Journal had already asked in 2007 "Can a Company Be Run as a Democracy?" (and conceded that it "sounds like a recipe for anarchy"). The answer reported came when 18 percent of the employees at an online seller which had adopted this "radical self-management system" quit. Origins The term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacred Geometry
Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and certain geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief that a god or goddess is the creator of the universal geometer. The geometry used in the design and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, and tabernacles has sometimes been considered sacred. The concept applies also to sacred spaces such as temenoi, sacred groves, village greens, pagodas and holy wells, Mandala Gardens and the creation of religious and spiritual art. As worldview and cosmology The belief that a god or goddess created the universe according to a geometric plan has ancient origins. Plutarch attributed the belief to Plato, writing that "Plato said god geometrizes continually" (''Convivialium disputationum'', liber 8,2). In modern times, the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss adapted this quote, saying "God arithmetizes". Johannes Kepler (1571 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Process Philosophy
Process philosophy, also ontology of becoming, or processism, is an approach to philosophy that identifies processes, changes, or shifting relationships as the only true elements of the ordinary, everyday real world. In opposition to the classical view of change as illusory (as argued by Parmenides) or accidental (as argued by Aristotle), process philosophy posits transient occasions of change or becoming as the only fundamental things of the ordinary everyday real world. Since the time of Plato and Aristotle, classical ontology has posited ordinary world reality as constituted of enduring substances, to which transient processes are ontologically subordinate, if they are not denied. If Socrates changes, becoming sick, Socrates is still the same (the substance of Socrates being the same), and change (his sickness) only glides over his substance: change is accidental, and devoid of primary reality, whereas the substance is essential. Philosophers who appeal to process rathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polytely
__NOTOC__ Polytely (from Greek roots ''poly-'' and ''-tel-'' meaning "many goals") comprises complex problem-solving situations characterized by the presence of multiple simultaneous goals.Funke 2001, p.72. These goals may be contradictory or otherwise conflict with one another, requiring prioritisation of desired outcomes.Funke 2001, p.72. Polytely is a feature of complex problem-solving that adds difficulty to finding an optimum solution. Funke describes polytely as a feature "not... inherent in a system, but eferringto certain decisions of the experimenter", especially decisions relating to what goals are to be followed in solving the problem.Funke 2001, p.73. In the complex problem of nuclear waste disposal, Flüeler cites both trust between states (as a factor in nuclear proliferation: "Some states disarm whilst others re-arm – both do it for the sake of our planet's peace"), and safe and sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ontology Modularization
The notion of ontology modularization refers to a methodological principle in ontology engineering. The idea is that an ontology is built in a modular manner, i.e. developed as a set of small modules and later composed to form, and be used as, one modular ontology. One of the major research meetings on ontology modularization is the International Workshop on Modular Ontologies series. See also * Ontology double articulation Ontology double articulation refers to the methodological principle in ontology engineering, that an ontology should be built as separate domain axiomatizations and application axiomatizations. According to this principle, an application axiomatiza ... References Modular Ontologies, Concepts, Theories and Techniques for Knowledge ModularizationStuckenschmidt, Heiner; Parent, Christine; Spaccapietra, Stefano (Eds.) In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) Vol. 5445. 2009. Springer. {{ISBN, 978-3-642-01906-7 External Links to Past and Future Workshops Seventh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noosphere
The noosphere (alternate spelling noösphere) is a philosophical concept developed and popularized by the Russian-Ukrainian Soviet biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, and the French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Vernadsky defined the noosphere as the new state of the biosphere and described as the planetary "sphere of reason". The noosphere represents the highest stage of biospheric development, its defining factor being the development of humankind's rational activities. The word is derived from the Greek νόος ("mind", "reason") and σφαῖρα ("sphere"), in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". The concept, however, cannot be accredited to a single author. The founding authors Vernadsky and de Chardin developed two related but starkly different concepts, the former being grounded in the geological sciences, and the latter in theology. Both conceptions of the noosphere share the common thesis that together human reason and the scien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nihilism
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan Turgenev, and more specifically by his character Bazarov in the novel '' Fathers and Sons''. There have been different nihilist positions, including that human values are baseless, that life is meaningless, that knowledge is impossible, or that some set of entities do not exist or are meaningless or pointless. Pratt, Alan.Nihilism" ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. . Scholars of nihilism may regard it as merely a label that has been applied to various separate philosophies, or as a distinct historical concept arising out of nominalism, skepticism, and philosophical pessimism, as well as possibly out of Christianity itself. Contemporary understanding of the idea stems largely from the Nietzschean 'crisis of nihilism', from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modular Design
Modular design, or modularity in design, is a design principle that subdivides a system into smaller parts called ''modules'' (such as modular process skids), which can be independently created, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other modules or between different systems. Overview A modular design can be characterized by functional partitioning into discrete scalable and reusable modules, rigorous use of well-defined modular interfaces, and making use of industry standards for interfaces. In this context modularity is at the component level, and has a single dimension, component slottability. A modular system with this limited modularity is generally known as a platform system that uses modular components. Examples are car platforms or the USB port in computer engineering platforms. In design theory this is distinct from a modular system which has higher dimensional modularity and degrees of freedom. A modular system design has no distinct lifetime and exhibits flexibili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martinus Thomsen
Martinus Thomsen, referred to as Martinus, (11 August 1890 – 8 March 1981) was a Danish author, philosopher and mystic. Born into a poor family and with a limited education, Martinus claimed to have had a profound spiritual experience in March 1921. This experience, which he called "cosmic consciousness", would be the inspiration for the books he wrote later on which are collectively entitled ''The Third Testament''. Some of his works have been translated into twenty languages, and while he is not well known internationally, his work remains popular in Denmark and to a lesser extent other parts of Scandinavia. Early life Born on 11 August 1890 near Sindal, a small town in northern Jutland, Denmark, Thomsen grew up in a house called "Moskildvad". This house, now open to the public, is testimony to the poverty he experienced during childhood. An illegitimate child, Thomsen never knew his father. His mother never married and worked on a farm called Kristiansminde. There, a stabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holism
Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book '' Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2019, www.oed.com/view/Entry/87726. Accessed 23 October 2019. While his ideas had racist connotations, the modern use of the word generally refers to treating a person as an integrated whole, rather than as a collection of separate systems. For example, well-being may be regarded as not merely physical health, but also psychological and spiritual well-being. Meaning The exact meaning of "holism" depends on context. Jan Smuts originally used "holism" to refer to the tendency in nature to produce wholes from the ordered grouping of unit structures. However, in common usage, "holism" usually refers to the idea that a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.J. C. Poynton (1987) SMUTS'S HOLISM AND E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
