“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Holism and Evolution (1926)
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Mike Jackson (1951) systems scientist
Source: Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers (2003), p. 4
Esperanza Spalding (1984) American jazz bassist and singer
On giving her music a magical quality in “Esperanza Spalding Wants to Connect You to Your Body” https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/09/esperanza-spalding-12-little-spells-interview in Vanity Fair (2018 Sep 25)
Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian
Source: The Alphabet of Grace
Kurt Koffka (1886–1941) German psychologist
Source: Principles of Gestalt Psychology, 1935, p. 176
Context: Even these humble objects reveal that our reality is not a mere collocation of elemental facts, but consists of units in which no part exists by itself, where each part points beyond itself and implies a larger whole. Facts and significance cease to be two concepts belonging to different realms, since a fact is always a fact in an intrinsically coherent whole. We could solve no problem of organization by solving it for each point separately, one after the other; the solution had to come for the whole. Thus we see how the problem of significance is closely bound up with the problem of the relation between the whole and its parts. It has been said: The whole is more than the sum of its parts. It is more correct to say that the whole is something else than the sum of its parts, because summing is a meaningless procedure, whereas the whole-part relationship is meaningful.
Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American writer
The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Six, Liberating Knowledge: News from the Frontiers of Science
“And the whole [is] greater than the part.”
Καὶ τὸ ὅλον τοῦ μέρους μεῖζον
ἐστιν
Elements, Book I, Common Notion 8 (5 in certain editions)
Cf. Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book Η 1045a 8–10: "… the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts … [πάντων γὰρ ὅσα πλείω μέρη ἔχει καὶ μὴ ἔστιν οἷον σωρὸς τὸ πᾶν]"
Euclid’s Elements
“The only possible idea of India is that of a nation greater than the sum of its parts.”
Shashi Tharoor (1956) Indian politician, diplomat, author
The Hindu, "Strengthening Indianness ", Sunday, Jan 19, 2003, Available Online http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2003/01/19/stories/2003011900240300.htm <br class="br">2000s
Arnold J. Toynbee book A Study of History
Vol. 4 (1948), part B, p. 6.
A Study of History (1934–1961)