Nein,
God is the most unimaginable being. — SpaceDweller

:lol:

Most interesting — Ms. Marple

"God is", as per Anselm, "that, than which nothing greater can be conceived."

Now, is something that's inconceivable (apophasis or, in vedic terms, neti neti) greater/lesser than Anselm's Deus? You might wanna look into contradictions, are they inconceivable? Sancta trinitas Unus Deus.

Ya, it does. The ultimate simple is not a part (one of many), but the Whole (all-encompassing Unity).
But, a better name for that unpartitioned infinite Potential might be a "holicale" (play on Holism). :joke: — Gnomon

Isn't the whole made up of (simpler) parts?

Isn't the whole made up of (simpler) parts? — Agent Smith

Yes. But the "Whole" is the immaterial "extra" (pattern ; arrangement ; logical structure ; metaphorical "glue") which unifies the physical parts into a system, not the parts themselves. It's the "more-than" which adds special properties of its own. If you try to dissect a whole into parts, it's no longer a whole. That's why Systems Theory was devised for Science, to study complex organizations, without killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

The difference that makes the difference is organization (logical interrelationships), the bonding of parts into functional organs. A pile of sand washes away with the next wave, but a block of concrete (bonded grains) withstands the forces of entropy. A frog is a living organism, but when you dissect it into separate organs, what you have left is dead parts. :smile:


As nouns the difference between collection and system is that collection is a set of items or amount of material procured or gathered together while system is a collection of organized things;
https://wikidiff.com/collection/system

Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent parts that can be natural or human-made. Every system is bounded by space and time, influenced by its environment, defined by its structure and purpose, and expressed through its functioning. ___Wikipedia

Holism is the idea that various systems should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book Holism and Evolution. ___Wikipedia

Holism :
Philosophy
the 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. Holism is often applied to mental states, language, and ecology. ___Google

I suppose you're on target. There are some systems that the moment you dissect/disassemble them they immediately stop being what they actually are. Life is a classic example: A cell is alive, as soon as you break it down into its parts like in a centrifuge, it dies. If so, did we really study/understand the cell?

I suppose you're on target. There are some systems that the moment you dissect/disassemble them they immediately stop being what they actually are. Life is a classic example: A cell is alive, as soon as you break it down into its parts like in a centrifuge, it dies. If so, did we really study/understand the cell? — Agent Smith

Holism is an ancient philosophical notion (e.g. Taoism). But, my eyes were opened to the modern concept of Holism --- as an Evolutionary Principle and a causal force (phase change) in the real world --- by the 1926 book, Holism and Evolution, by Jan Smuts. Note : NewAge spirituality later mixed ancient & modern versions of Holism into their worldview. However, that same core concept, as applied to physical Science, is what we now know as Systems Theory. For a general philosophical introduction, I highly recommend the Smuts book. I have two hardback copies, would you like to borrow one? :joke:

Holism and Evolution :
Smuts examines the reformed concepts (as of 1926) of space and time (chapter 2), matter (chapter 3), and biology (chapter 4), and concludes that the close approach to each other of the concepts of matter, life, and mind, and the partial overflow of each other's domains, imply that there is a fundamental principle (Holism) of which they are the progressive outcome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism_and_Evolution
Kindle format $3 at
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VISSWR6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Systems theory :
A system may be more than the sum of its parts if it expresses synergy or emergent behavior.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory
Other sources : Ludwig von Bertalanffy (General System Theory); Gregory Bateson (Ecology of Mind) ; Maturana, Humberto, and Francisco Varela (Autopoiesis) ; Norbert Wiener (Cybernetics) ; Fritjof Capra (Systems View of Life) ; etc.

Emergence Theory :
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors which emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence

CONCEPTUAL ORGANIC HOLISM versus BLIND MECHANISTIC REDUCTIONISM

:up: Thanks a ton!

What's the difference between a log fire and life? Both are chemistry. Are we conflating complexity with emergence i.e. are we simply imagining that there's something more to a cell than a smorgasboard of chemical reactions?