Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun physics One of three kinds of
quasiparticle (the other being thespinon andorbiton ) thatelectrons insolids are able to split into during the process of spin–charge separation, when extremely tightly confined at temperatures close to absolute zero. - noun sociology The term "holon" is a structural family therapy term that implies the part and whole inevitably connected. Every holon is both a part and a whole, e.g.: an individual is part of a family, which is part of an extended family, which is part of a community, etc.
Etymologies
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Examples
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The term holon refers to autonomous entities that act both as a part and as a whole.
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The term holon refers to autonomous entities that act both as a part and as a whole.
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The concepts of holon and holarchy are fundamental to understanding the healthy function of complex living systems, which requires that each of their whole-parts maintain its own identity and boundaries even as it functions as part of the larger whole.
Holons.org Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
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The concepts of holon and holarchy are fundamental to understanding the healthy function of complex living systems, which requires that each of their whole-parts maintain its own identity and boundaries even as it functions as part of the larger whole.
Archive 2005-09-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
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The molecule that is also part of a cell is a holon, as is the cell that is part of an organ, and so on.
Holons.org Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
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Mental logic states that the whole or higher holon is more inclusive and more powerful than the part or lower holon.
Archive 2005-11-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
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Each whole is simultaneously a part, a whole/part, a holon.
Archive 2005-09-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
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A new perspective on whole-part relationships is taking shape around the concept of the holon - a term coined by Arthur Koestler to designate that which is simultaneously a whole in its own right and a part of a larger whole.
Archive 2005-09-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
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The molecule that is also part of a cell is a holon, as is the cell that is part of an organ, and so on.
Archive 2005-09-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
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When it is also part of a molecule it becomes a holon, or a whole-part.
Archive 2005-09-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2005
freshelectrons commented on the word holon
heard today while listening to The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.
March 2, 2007
vanishedone commented on the word holon
Mark Edwards, 'A Brief History of Holons': 'The idea of hierarchy and of their constituent part-wholes, or holons, has, as Arthur Koestler points out in the opening quote, a long and distinguished history... While all these various threads of ideas included the consideration of hierarchical networks and levels and orders of development it was not until the work of writer-philosopher Arthur Koestler that a fully theory of holarchy and holons was proposed.'
March 20, 2009