Holistic knowledge is one of the three levels in which the Theory of Knowledge divided the way in which human beings assimilate and understand the external world. The term holistic, which defines this level, comes from a Greek word that means totality..
The first level of knowledge according to this theory is the sensitive one, which defines all the information that is captured through the senses. The next level is the conceptual one, based on essential, universal and invisible concepts..
The holistic, also called intuitive knowledge, includes all areas of the object, idea or person that it is intended to know. The main difference with the previous ones is that it encompasses existing values independently of the object.
An example of the above is found when judging a person. In addition to what we can capture with our senses and some concepts such as whether it is a man or a woman, holistic knowledge offers us information about their values or their importance within their family.
Holistic knowledge encompasses everything that makes up an object, idea or person. Unlike the other levels established by the Theory of Knowledge, in this case it includes the values that appear independently in each entity..
Holism, the term from which the adjective holistic comes, is defined as a method or thought that covers all angles of a subject to try to understand it. Thus, holistic knowledge is not limited to accessing reality through the senses, but is fixed on the whole to have a global perspective.
The holistic approaches each element of knowledge through all the elements that make up the object, idea or person to be understood. This implies that it ranges from its physical and biological components to its mental and social components..
The reason for encompassing the set is that holism states that some characteristics of objects can only be known if they are studied as a whole. Thus, this type of knowledge follows the maxim of Aristotle, who stated that "the whole is more than the sum of the parts".
Holistic knowledge not only tries to capture all the angles of the object, but also observes how each part interacts with the others..
Some authors also call this type of knowledge intuitive, although they warn that the term can be confusing due to the meanings of that word.
The reason for this name is due to the fact that this knowledge is not based on forms, such as sensible, nor on universal categories, such as conceptual. Its basis is the totality, a concept without physical or structural limits that must be intuited.
This process of intuition would appear, for example, when trying to know a moral value. It can only be done by intuition, by having the feeling that it is present. This lack of concrete elements makes what is captured by holistic knowledge difficult to express in words.
Holistic knowledge aims to capture at the same time all the aspects that make up the object to be known. All these elements, plus the way in which they interact with each other, result in the entity in question.
Within that totality to be captured, we must also take into account the relationships that are established between the different entities.
Finally, all those aspects that have been captured make the object unique compared to the rest of the reality that surrounds it..
Holism as a philosophical and scientific concept has been defined on many occasions as the opposite of reductionism.
The reductionists are characterized by trying to give an answer to complex systems through the analysis and study of the parts that make it up. Thus, for example, any process within biology is reduced to chemistry.
However, from the point of view of holistic knowledge, it is considered that the study should be carried out in a totally opposite way. For his followers, biological systems can only be understood as a whole and reducing it to its parts prevents its full understanding.
One of the problems that appears when looking for examples of holistic knowledge is that its intuitive nature does not allow it to be defined and expressed exactly.
This type of knowledge is based on capturing the totality, within which are the sensations that occur before a person, object or idea.
One of the most repeated examples of holistic knowledge is the formation of a scientific hypothesis.
When a researcher thinks he is approaching to elaborate a hypothesis that explains a specific phenomenon, he is, in reality, envisioning knowledge in a holistic way.
This means that he is able to observe the entire context of the entity he is studying, including its relationships with other entities, its characteristics and its changes. Some authors even affirm that this first impression of the hypothesis can be equated to inspiration.
After acquiring that knowledge, the scientist must express it in more structured terms.
It is important not to confuse holistic knowledge in medicine with pseudoscience that has been self-empowered as holistic medicine..
General medicine is the one that best reflects holistic knowledge, since it operates with great complexity. The doctor must take into account all possible factors when treating a patient, with a multidimensional approach.
In recent years the so-called holistic business vision has become popular. The followers of this concept affirm that it is necessary to have a complete and complex vision of everything related to the management of a company, from strategies to production.
Empathy consists of being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes and feel their emotions and feelings..
In this way, the individual has to abandon his own categories to feel those of another person. It is a knowledge that has nothing to do with the senses, but needs to capture multiple invisible and non-universal aspects.
Another relatively common term is holistic ecology. Faced with previous approaches, which were based on the elements that made up life, ecosystems or populations, the supporters of holistic knowledge try to encompass them all.
His point of view is that these elements cannot be dealt with individually if ecology is to be understood, but a global approach is essential..
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