Holism and Evolution

Holism and Evolution is a 1926 book by South African statesman <a href="/facts/Jan_Smuts/SYE36ekh">Jan Smuts</a>, in which he coined the word "<a href="/facts/Holism/QnIpnLr6">holism</a>", although Smuts' meaning differs from the modern concept of holism. Smuts defined holism as the "fundamental factor operative towards the creation of wholes in the universe."

The book was part of a broader trend of interest in holism in European and colonial academia during the early twentieth century. Smuts based his philosophy of holism on the thoughts behind his earlier book, <a href="/facts/Walt_Whitman/dGugaxdb">Walt Whitman</a>: A Study in the Evolution of Personality, written during his time at Cambridge in the early 1890s. The book describes a "process-orientated, hierarchical view of nature" and has been influential among criticisms of <a href="/facts/Reductionism/tc2aWaza">reductionism</a>. 
Smuts' formulation of holism has also been linked with his political-military activity, especially his aspiration to create a league of nations: "the unification of the four provinces in the <a href="/facts/Union_of_South_Africa/bwmp5mXt">Union of South Africa</a>, the idea of the British <a href="/facts/Commonwealth_of_Nations/TcIRQnNq">Commonwealth of Nations</a>, and, finally, the great whole resulting from the combination of the peoples of the earth were just a logical progression consistent with his philosophical tenets." 
Smuts saw the <a href="/facts/League_of_Nations/PQlcKzXs">League of Nations</a> as a project that would unify white internationalists and pacify a forthcoming <a href="/facts/Ethnic_conflict/UD5v1e8r">race war</a> by establishing a mandate system, whereby whites would indirectly rule and segregate non-whites.

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Holism and Evolution