Whole is the Sum of its Parts

Gollum, It's called Gestalt psychology, i.e, The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, it's holistic in nature, meaning that the entire picture is greater than individual subsets.

Letty, that is the opposite of what gollum said.

You could call that synergy also.

I'd say both can be true but it depends on what they are referring to.

OK, stuh. I thought that gollum had not stated it correctly. I'm not familiar with synergy. What is it, exactly?

My apologies, Gollum

That's a Geometry axiom I believe. You can't prove it.

Isn't it the whole is less than the sum of the parts? E=mc2?

bcKay, welcome to A2K..<smile> I know nothing of Einstein's theory that I can justify, but I don't think that's it:

http://www.geocities.com/thesciencefiles/emc2/emc2.html

I don't know about mathematical theories in any detail...and I'm hopeless at geometry...but I do know that the mass of the individual particles of the nucleus of the atom weigh more than the nucleus itself....the remaining mass being energy...that is why we can harvest so much energy from nuclear reactions... (E=mc2 can be used to describe the binding energy of the nucleus...the missing mass that holds the nucleus together) It's been a long while since I've looked at this but it's what I first thought of when I read the original post.

oh and thanks for the welcome! Looks like a great site!

Re: Whole is the Sum of its Parts


No, mathematics cannot prove that statement.
In a branch of mathematics which manages the concepts of infinity, one can find an example of the sum of "volumes" of parts exceeds the "volume" of the whole in some cases.

Synergy is when multiple things working together produce a greater effect than the sum of those things working individually.

Ok. Thanks, stuh. <smile> It all becomes clear now...