we and culture holism

1. Does our culture and society
make us what we are?
Presented By Saba Ijaz
Roll No:04

2. What is Holism?
 Holism is a Greek word meaning all, entire, total) is the idea
that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined
or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the
system as a whole determines in an important way how the
parts behave.
 "The whole is more than the sum of its parts" (Aristotle).
 The term holism was introduced by the South
African statesman Jan Smuts in his 1926 book, Holism and
Evolution

3. Types of Holism
 Epistemological Holism (or Confirmation Holism) is the
claim that a single scientific theory cannot be tested in
isolation, because a test of one theory
always depends on other theories and hypotheses.
 Semantic Holism is a doctrine in the Philosophy of
Language to the effect that a certain part of language can only
be understood through its relations to a larger segment of
language, possibly the entire language.

4. Our Culture and society make us what we
are?

5. Cont….
 Individuals are what they are because of the social whole.
 A more modern version of holism is structuralism.
 According to Foucault it is the process by which subjects are created by
the physical, social and discursive space in which they live.
 A kind of person is created when the kind itself comes into extension.
 Holism has a special place in social science for two reasons.
1. Not focus on individuals but on members of class
2. It explain why they are the way they are

6. Examples

7. Different ism’s opposite to
holism

8. Holism vs Reductionism

9. Holism vs Atomism

10. Does our culture
or society make
us what we
are???

11. Culture
Culture is pictured as a text the vocabulary and
grammar of which its member learn.
A culture penetrates its individual members mentally
,physically and socially.
According to holism, identity is a function of
enculturation.
But does our culture really make us what we are?

12. Cont….
 Culture is not as much dominant over its members.
 For Brian Fay Cultures are inherently polyglot, conflictual,
changeable and open.
 Cultures involve constants processes of reinscription and
transformation.
 For Burke culture is not a noun but a verb.

13. Society
 According to holistic view of society conceive it as a system
which determines how its member behave and relate.
 Society and system theory.
 Rules and roles
a) Regulative rules and roles
b) Constitutive rules and roles

14. Does our society make us what we are?
 Society is not dominant on its members.
 Agents perceive their situation , reason about it, form
motives, knowingly act according to reasoning and reflexively
monitor their action.
 Structuration
 Society is a process.
 It is not noun but a verb.

15. Determination and agency
 Does our culture or society make us what we are? Answer of this question depend
on how culture, society and make are defined.
 Culture
 Society
 Make

16. Make suggest following relation between
society, culture and their agents
Enable
Constrain
Select
Mediate
Prevent
Determine

18. Summing up
Culture, society and their members are
interdependent.
Both License certain form of behaviors and
identity.
Holism is one sided doctrine.
Holism and atomism
Culture society and agency

19. Any question???????