Biography jan christiaan smuts holism and evolution

Holism and Evolution is a book by South African statesman Jan Smuts , in which he coined the word " holism ", [ 1 ] [ 2 ] although Smuts' meaning differs from the modern concept of holism. The book was part of a broader trend of interest in holism in European and colonial academia during the early twentieth century.

Biography jan christiaan smuts holism and evolution: Holism and Evolution is a book

Smuts' formulation of holism has also been linked with his political-military activity, especially his aspiration to create a league of nations: "the unification of the four provinces in the Union of South Africa , the idea of the British Commonwealth of Nations , and, finally, the great whole resulting from the combination of the peoples of the earth were just a logical progression consistent with his philosophical tenets.

Smuts saw the League of Nations as a project that would unify white internationalists and pacify a forthcoming race war by establishing a mandate system, whereby whites would indirectly rule and segregate non-whites. After identifying the need for reform in the fundamental concepts of matter, life, and mind chapter 1 , Smuts examines the reformed concepts as of of space and time chapter 2 , matter chapter 3 , and biology chapter 4 , and concludes that the close approach to each other of the concepts of matter, life, and mind, and the partial overflow of each other's domains, imply that there is a fundamental principle Holism of which they are the progressive outcome.

Wholes are composites which have an internal structure, function, or character, which clearly differentiate them from mechanical additions, aggregates, and constructions, such as science assumes on the mechanical hypothesis. The field of a whole is not something different and additional to it, it is the continuation of the whole beyond its sensible contours of experience.

Darwin's theory of organic descent placed primary emphasis on the role of natural selection, but there would be nothing to select if not for variation. Variations that are the result of mutations in the biological sense and variations that are the result of individually acquired modifications in the personal sense are attributed by Smuts to holism; further, it was his opinion that because variations appear in complexes and not singly, evolution is more than the outcome of individual selections; it is holistic.

The whole exhibits a discernible regulatory function as it relates to cooperation and coordination of the structure and activity of parts, and to the selection and deselection of variations. The result is a balanced correlation of organs and functions. The activities of the parts are directed to central ends: co-operation and unified action instead of the separate mechanical activities of the parts.