I now will explain my use of the word �Holon� and the subsequent word �Holarchy�. These words are the inventions of Arthur Koestler from his book �The Ghost and The Machine�. Koestler continues to explore and explain Holons and Holarchies in his later book: Janus: A Summing Up. The recognition of the importance of those terms to making a true map of reality was later acknowledged by Ken Wilber .
A Holon is a term to describe an object which has the characteristics of simultaneously being both an individual whole, composed of parts, as well as being a single part of some larger whole. This partness and wholeness is each an aspect of every object, every Holon, and these properties / characteristics / qualities of the Holon object are complementary properties / characteristics / qualities and not a divisible distinction. It is not the case that an object can be considered solely as being a part or can be considered solely as being a whole. In actuality every object has the properties of partness and wholeness it is only how and when you consider and observer the object, it is the context of the act of observation that determines which properties will manifest or be noticeable. This duality of properties as being inherent in the object is the concept of complementarity that Niels Bohr devised to understand photons of light.
The idea Bohr was analogizing to was the concepts of Yin and Yang. According to Taoism all things have a Yin and Yang nature. Neither or exclusive. Neither or in opposition. They are so interrelated that within any Yin there is an element of Yang, and within any Yang there is an element of Yin. I believe Koestler recognized the presence of this interrelated complementary duality in all things and perhaps this was the seed to the creation of his idea of the Holon.
All Holon�s have the following other characteristics. They can be described from the perspective of three modalities: External and Internal, as Individual Wholes and as Parts of a Collective, and they are Dynamic and Static. [This last modality was noticed by Robert Pirsig and the terms dynamic and static were not used by Koestler or Wilber.]
Koestler noted, and Wilber seems to have taken no (or little) notice of, the fact that every holon has a continuum of primary drives, or motivations. Koestler states this continuum thusly:
�4:1 : Every holon has the dual tendency to preserve and assert its individuality as a quasi-autonomous whole; and to function as an integrated part of an (existing or evolving) larger whole. This polarity between the self-assertive and integrative tendencies is inherent in the concept of hierarchic order; and a universal characteristic of life. The self-assertive tendencies are the dynamic expression of the holon�s wholeness, the integrative tendencies of its partness.�
In actuality these two inclinations and tendencies are the polar extremes of a continuum of choices. Actions are more or less integrative and more or less self-assertive. Koestler believes that all holons act in accordance with these two inclinations/tendencies. As Koestler views them the two tendencies are constantly in possible opposition. We unconsciously or consciously are choosing to act to assert our wholeness or to integrative as a part of some greater whole/community. In actual practice both being a part and being a whole can be a source of �Goodness� and �Badness�. In actuality to over-emphasize either, being a part, or being a whole, can lead to imbalance and undesirable consequences for ourselves as wholes and for ourselves as parts of our communities.
All of these characteristics are not either/or choices. As Korzybski stated either/or is part of the limited logic of an Aristotelian system and the choice of using this system exclusively is false to the facts of reality. Korzybski�s Null-A system offers not merely a choice of one or the other. Either/or choices are forcing that which is Dynamic into something artificial and Static. We must realize that our minds are only capable of analyzing only static things. We can not by the nature of the limitations of our mind deal with an ever changing and fluid collection of things. Ever changing and always in motion seems to us as chaos and confusion. We can not function in chaos. We must have and we will construct order. We therefore have to limit the dynamic infinite flux to a manageable static finite.
I believe our minds have been hard wired to deal with only focusing on the relationship of two things at any one time. Reality is found by recognizing that in actuality each pair, External--Internal, Individual/Wholes--Collective/Parts, Dynamic--Static, etc, are all choices along continuums. Where abstract purity is imagined at either end of the continuum, but objects can be described anywhere along that continuum. The continuum is a Null-A system metaphor which recognizes the Dynamic Quality relationships in the structure and nature of Reality.
It is no error to use the static tools of comparisons and contrasting. The error arises in believing that because we are most comfortable in focusing on only two things to compare and contrast at any one time, that therefore these two things are the only possible choices that exist. When we forget that we choose the two things out of an infinite possibility of things to consider, we have distorted the world and we are beginning to believe that there are only Static Quality tools. By using the continuum model of comparison and contrasting we maintain the dynamic as a background and anchor in our static analysis.
We also must remember that the act of placing an object along the continuum is our human choice. And thus is not the �True� choice, which is what both Lao Tzu and Korzybski warns us about. That all objects have those characteristics is �True�, it is a part of the non-verbal and pre-human nature of reality. Realizing that those choices exists and formulating a map to describe those choices is a human act and a human product and thus theoretically there can never be an end to the map making and map using. Our maps are our �sunglasses�, to use my earlier metaphor.
As Koestler and Wilber have eloquently stated in their books , all Holons are part of a Holarchy. They can be mapped out showing their relationships vertically and horizontally. This arrangement is theoretically endless along the horizontal axis, upwards or downwards. It all depends on the ingenuity, creativity, and imagination of the human formulating the holarchical map. At either end the final uppermost/biggest whole that can be imagined is Quality and the final smallest part that can be imagined is Quality. To give as an illustration of an External Classical Quality holarchy, one made by Western Scientists, the Universe would be at the top of the holarchy and quarks, or whatever makes up quarks, would be at the bottom of their holarchy.
Korzybski realized that the underlying premises of A-logic results in false to fact conclusions of reality especially when compared to the discoveries of and the tools of analysis used by the science that was available in 1933, which included Einstein�s theory of Relativity, Quantum physics, Niels Bohr principle of complementarity and Werner Heisenberg�s uncertainty principles. Korzybski realized that this new science was using analytic tools of logic that went beyond A-logic and challenged the validity of the assumptions of A-logic. Korzybski realized that they were using a heretofore unexplicated Non-Aristotelian form of logic, which I have been designating as Null-A-logic . He set about to explicate, explain and explore that new logic, and did so in his book Science and Sanity.
