If what is meant by the “parts” INCLUDES all the various interactions between the parts then I would say logically it is NEVER true that “The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
However, you could cheat by semantics by contriving a meaning of a word “whole” in some particular context in such a way that it includes something that is both not any of the “parts” nor any of the interactions between the parts -but personally I think that would just be a cheep trick of semantics.
Originally posted by Andrew Hamilton If what is meant by the “parts” INCLUDES all the various interactions between the parts then I would say logically it is NEVER true that “The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
However, you could cheat by semantics by contriving a meaning of a word “whole” in some particular context in such a way that it includes something that is both n ...[text shortened]... actions between the parts -but personally I think that would just be a cheep trick of semantics.
A bucket of parts is not an automobile, or a computer, or a person. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It's called synergy, potentiation, and being.
Originally posted by coquette A bucket of parts is not an automobile, or a computer, or a person. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It's called synergy, potentiation, and being.
I agree. But what about material matter? If I ripped my T-shirt in half, and sew it back together, would it be whole again???
If I use a bucket of parts to build an automobile would it be whole?
If I use a bucket of parts to build a computer would it be whole?
Originally posted by coquette A bucket of parts is not an automobile, or a computer, or a person. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It's called synergy, potentiation, and being.
I guess that singly the parts to not carry location information but when put together their relationships result in new information.
I would disagree though that an automobile is greater than a bucket containing all its parts. Its just different. It may be more useful to us but it is not necessarily 'greater'.
Many systems do seem to be "emergent", in that the end or intervening result(s) are not reducable to the individual parts. "Greater" may not be the most exact term here. One example would be to say "look at yourself in the mirror".
Some think the universe as a whole is such a system that is more than the sum of its parts
According to the particle data-group the mass of the up quark is between 1.5 and 3.3 MeV/c² the mass of the down quark is 2.5 to 5.0 MeV/c². From this you´d expect the mass of a proton to be, at most, 11.6 MeV/c². The actual mass is 938 MeV/c². So here is a clear example of the whole being a couple of orders of magnitude larger than the sum of the parts.
Originally posted by Westside Mobster I have a pizza pie.
It is 360 degrees in circumference.
When I cut it in half is it still whole?
I would say that the chemical bonds that hold the molecules of pizza pie together (mainly weak hydrogen bonds between the organic molecules that make them stick together in this case) are PART of the pizza pie. Thus when you cut it in half you are taking away some of the parts because you have to cut and thus extinguish some of those chemical bonds that hold the molecules of pizza pie together.
The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts?
24 Feb '09 19:011 edit
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