Introduction to holonarchies
Holonarchy vs Hierachy
Holonarchy. This concept is an improvement on the older term, “hierarchy,” in that it avoids the latter’s negative connotations of a ladder, up and down, better and worse, status, military, and ecclesiastical. It has various other properties that make it a much more accurate and useful way to organize many things, especially information, purposes, living beings, and organizations.
A holonarchy is an arrangement of holons. Arthur Koestler coined the term “holon” from the Greek “hol” meaning whole and “on” meaning part. A holon is something which is simultaneously a whole relative to its constituent parts, and a part relative to some larger whole. A moment's thought will show that virtually anything can be viewed as a holon: cell, sentence, branch, team, etc.
A holonarchy has several formal properties, regardless of what specific things it is arranging. Each holon (stage, level) is both part and whole, which therefore become relatives, not absolutes. Each holon includes as special cases all the holons within it. Each holon is non-summative: meta to its parts and to the sum of its parts. Distinctions within holons are primarily quantitative, matters of degree, analog. Distinctions between holons are primarily qualitative, matters of kind, logical type, digital.
There are no holons or holonarchies in reality. Using a Perspectivist style of cognition, there is merely a way of construing things as holons or holonarchies. It is a perspective of an observer, taken for some purpose.
