View source for Systemism as the Alternative to Individualism and Holism


'''* Article: Systemism: the alternative to individualism and holism. By Mario Bunge.'''

URL = https://philpapers.org/rec/BUNSTA


=Abstract=

"Three radical worldviews and research approaches are salient in social studies: individualism, holism, and systemism. Individualism focuses on the composition of social systems, whereas holism focuses on their structure. Neither of them is adequate, one because all individuals are interrelated and two because there are no relations without relata. '''The only cogent and viable alternative is systemism, according to which everything is either a system or a component of a system, and every system has peculiar (emergent) properties that its components lack'''. The simplest model of a system, whether concrete or abstract, is the ordered triple composition– environment–structure. Concrete systems, whether physical, biological, or social, are also characterized by their mechanism or modus operandi. This model is more realistic and therefore more useful. A few examples are examined."


=More information=

Related articles:

Ten Modes of Individualism—None of Which Works—And Their Alternatives.Mario Bunge - 2000 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 30 (3):384-406.

Individualism and holism: New controversies in the philosophy of social science. [REVIEW]Pierre Demeulenaere - 2000 - Mind and Society 1 (2):3-16.

A systems concept of society: Beyond individualism and holism.Mario Bunge - 1979 - Theory and Decision 10 (1-4):13-30.


[[Category:Complexity]]