pro a c h e s in D o in g

Ap
Ph ilo s o p h y:
Reduc tio n is t a n d
Ho lis t ic
Take a look!
Two approaches in philosophy:

REDUCTIONIST

HOLISTIC
Two approaches in philosophy:

REDUCTIONIST
is the belief that human behaviour can be
explained by breaking it down into simpler
component parts.
Two approaches in philosophy:

HOLISTIC
is a theory that parts of a whole are in
intimate interconnection, such that they cannot
exist independently of the whole, or cannot be
understood without reference to the whole,
which is thus regarded as greater than the
sum of its parts.
Reductionist
parts are important to create a
fully assembled toy model.

it is so important that you need

to know every single detail of
each part to understand the
whole.

GUNPLA (Gundam Play Model)

 Holistic

in a sense that what matters

most is the significance of the
wholeness of this Gunpla, yet it
can only be understood as a
whole if we look closer to its
parts.

GUNPLA (Gundam Play Model)

“What would be the relevance of the wholeness
of being?
 Willy Ostring
in his article entitled Reductionism versus
Holism, the difference between these two
ideologies is their focus – the truth of the
matter.
The former focuses on the properties of
each part while the latter’s emphasis is on
the relationship between them.
 Willy Ostring
The truth of the matter in using a
reductionist approach is all about the
function of the parts of the whole – we
lean towards the details of a whole.
while the truth of the matter in using the
holistic approach is the wholeness of
„being‟; understanding a certain subject as
a whole, reconnecting each part to convey
the ultimate truth.
 René Descartes
He introduced Reductionism
Father of Modern Philosophy
According to Vinzons, “he likened the
world to a machine with pieces working
like a clockwork mechanism.”
Reduce– breaking down the pieces,
reduces all that is in it, to fully realize the
truth of the matter.
 René Descartes
Holism: “idea that something can be more
than the sum of its parts.”
Holos - a Greek word which means “all‟,
“total‟, or “whole‟.
summed up by Aristotle in his Metaphysics
holistic approach - popularized not until
1926 that the term “holism” was presented
by Jan Smuts.
How are we going to use reductionism and holism?
Latin Maxim – “Minima Maxima Sunt” which literally means the smallest
things are most important.
Example of Reduction:
The best example to understand the reductionist approach is when
we faithfully stick with our favourite chicken-pork adobo. There
are various recipes that can be used to prepare our favourite dish.
And when we come across an unusual adobo, we tend to reduce it
with the prejudices we already have.
How about the holistic approach?
We look into the wholeness of the person, not just in one piece of
his/her being.
Holism helps us to take away our prejudices – in such a way that we
focus on wholeness, not by part. For example, we will not discuss EDSA
revolution as our sole jumping board towards the concept of freedom.
It will definitely create biases if we do.
When we practice a holistic perspective, we can deliberate ideas
philosophically because being holistic is congruent with being open-
minded to all possible realities.
Philosophy Greek words: philos (love) and sophia (wisdom)
“love of wisdom”.
study or discipline that uses human reason to investigate the ultimate
causes, reasons, and principles which govern all things.
the study of general and fundamental questions about existence,
knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
a way of thinking about the world, the universe, and society. It works
by asking very basic questions about the nature of human thought, the
nature of the universe, and the connections between them. The ideas
in philosophy are often general and abstract.
Philosophy

the study of humans and the world by thinking and asking questions. It
is a science and an art.
tries to answer important questions by coming up with answers about
real things and asking "why?"
Assignment

Name at least 2 Philosophers and the most famous contribution they

had.
Give a situation where you have adopted a holistic view in looking at a
problem or situation.
How can having a holistic view help us become better individuals?
THANK YOU!