References
Bartels, A., Lyre, H., & Esfeld, M.. (2004). Holism in the philosophy of physics: An introduction. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B – Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 35(4), 597–599.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsb.2004.09.001
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“Holistic features figure prominently in many of the hard problems concerning thernontological foundations of modern physics. entanglement, non-separability and thernnon-locality arising in the epr-bell correlations, the non-individuality of particles—rnall these prominent features of quantum theory cast doubt on the common view ofrnthe world as consisting of localized, individual and independently existingrnsubstances. these issues, in particular the notion of non-separability, all relate tornthe concept of holism (howard, 1985, 1989; teller, 1986, 1989). moreover, the issuernof holism arises not only in the philosophy of quantum physics. certain aspects ofrngeneral relativity—in connection with its non-linear field equations and the nonlocalizabilityrnof gravitational energy—have to be taken into account as well alongrnwith the characteristic features of gauge theories, where apparently holistic entitiesrnlike holonomies play a fundamental role. 597generally—albeit loosely—speaking, holism is the thesis that certain systemsrnhave some properties not independently of one another, but only taken together.rnin other words, if systems exhibit holistic features, there are some global propertiesrnthat do not supervene on their individual properties. this may be taken to amount torna loss of individuality of the systems in question. the point at issue is, of course,rnhow to make such intuitions precise in order to come up with a notion of holismrnthat is able to offer an insight into the nature of the physical systems that arernconsidered to manifest holistic features (teller, 1986, 1989; french, 1989; healey,rn1991; esfeld, 2001). one may go even further than that and envisage arncharacterization of holism that covers all forms and levels of holism—not only inrnthe philosophy of physics, but also in the philosophy of biology and in thernphilosophy of mind and language. but it goes without saying that it is debatablern598whether there are any substantial links between holism in physics and these otherrnforms of holism.rnthe remainder of this issue is devoted to holism in the philosophy of physicsrnand brings together five papers in which some of the above-mentioned issues,rnparticularly in connection with quantum theory (esfeld, placek, seevinck) andrngauge theories (healey, lyre), are discussed. the collection is based on some of thernlectures given at the international workshop ‘‘Holism in the philos…”
Esfeld, M.. (1998). Holism and analytic philosophy. Mind, 107(426), 365–380.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1093/mind/107.426.365
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“The aim of the paper is to propose a general conception of holism which is applicable to cases as far apart as holism in belief systems and holism in quantum physics. my proposal characterizes a holistic system s in terms of generic ontological dependence among its parts. this dependence relates to some of the properties that make something a part of an s whenever there is a suitable arrangement with other things. my proposal thus also characterizes what it is for something to be a part of a holistic system and enables us to conceive of holistic properties.”
Esfeld, M.. (2001). The Extension of Quantum Holism and the Philosophy of Mind. Holism in Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Physics, 273–302.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1787-8_9
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“This paper attempts to build a bridge between the interpretation of quantum theory and the philosophy of mind. in contrast to other such attempts, the bridge which this paper suggests does not consist in extending features of quantum theory to the philosophy of mind. the argument of this paper is that the discussion about a revision of the cartesian tradition in current philosophy of mind is relevant to the interpretation of quantum theory: taking this discussion into account sharpens up the task for the interpretation of quantum physics as far as the scope of what is known as quantum holism is concerned. in particular, considering this discussion makes out a strong case against the interpretation that considers quantum holism to be universal in the physical realm. for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper i am grateful to matthew donald, peter mclaughlin and three anonymous referees for jcs.”
Esfeld, M.. (1999). Holism in Cartesianism and in today’s philosophy of physics. Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 30(1), 17–36.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1023/A:1008326613673
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“The aim of this paper is to contribute to a more balanced judgment than the widespread impression that the changes which are called for in today’s philosophy of physics and which center around the concept of holism amount to a rupture with the framework of cartesian philosophy of physics. i argue that this framework includes a sort of holism: as a result of the identification of matter with space, any physical property can be instantiated only if there is the whole of matter. relating this holism to general relativity, i maintain that this holism cannot be directly applied to today’s philosophy of physics consequent upon the failure of geometrodynamics. i show in what respect precisely the holism in quantum physics amounts to a revision of the holism within cartesianism.”
Esfeld, M.. (1999). Physicalism and ontological holism. Metaphilosophy, 30(4), 319–337.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1111/1467-9973.00141
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“The claim of this paper is that we should envisage physicalism as an ontological holism. our current basic physics, quantum theory, suggests that, ontologically speaking, we have to assume one global quantum state of the world; many of the properties that are often taken to be intrinsic properties of physical systems are in fact relations, which are determined by that global quantum state. the paper elaborates on this conception of physicalism as an ontological holism and considers issues such as supervenience, realization of higher‐order properties by basic physical properties, and reduction.”
Esfelt, M.. (2004). Quantum entanglement and a metaphysics of relations. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B – Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 35(4), 601–617.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsb.2004.04.008
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“This paper argues for a metaphysics of relations based on a characterization of quantum entanglement in terms of non-separability, thereby regarding entanglement as a sort of holism. by contrast to a radical metaphysics of relations, the position set out in this paper recognizes things that stand in the relations, but claims that, as far as the relations are concerned, there is no need for these things to have qualitative intrinsic properties underlying the relations. this position thus opposes a metaphysics of individual things that are characterized by intrinsic properties. a principal problem of the latter position is that it seems that we cannot gain any knowledge of these properties insofar as they are intrinsic. against this background, the rationale behind a metaphysics of relations is to avoid a gap between epistemology and metaphysics. © 2004 elsevier ltd. all rights reserved.”
Healey, R.. (2004). Gauge theories and holisms. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B – Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 35(4), 619–642.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsb.2004.07.003
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“Those looking for holism in contemporary physics have focused their attention primarily on quantum entanglement. but some gauge theories arguably also manifest the related phenomenon of nonseparability. while the argument is strong for the classical gauge theory describing electromagnetic interactions with quantum ‘particles’, it fails in the case of general relativity even though that theory may also be formulated in terms of a connection on a principal fiber bundle. anandan has highlighted the key difference in his analysis of a supposed gravitational analog to the aharonov-bohm effect. by contrast with electromagnetism in the original aharonov-bohm effect, gravitation is separable and exhibits no novel holism in this case. whether the nonseparability of classical gauge theories of nongravitational interactions is associated with holism depends on what counts as the relevant part-whole relation. loop representations of quantized gauge theories of nongravitational interactions suggest that these conclusions about holism and nonseparability may extend also to quantum theories of the associated fields. © 2004 elsevier ltd. all rights reserved.”
Healey, R. A.. (1991). Holism and Nonseparability. The Journal of Philosophy, 88(8), 393.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.2307/2026702
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“Analyses holism and seperability theses, arguing that quantum mechanics supports nonserperability but not holism”
Lyre, H.. (2004). Holism and structuralism in U(1) gauge theory. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B – Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 35(4), 643–670.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsb.2004.07.004
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“After decades of neglect philosophers of physics have discovered gauge theories-arguably the paradigm of modern field physics-as a genuine topic for foundational and philosophical research. incidentally, in the last couple of years interest from the philosophy of physics in structural realism-in the eyes of its proponents the best suited realist position towards modern physics-has also raised. this paper tries to connect both topics and aims to show that structural realism gains further credence from an ontological analysis of gauge theories-in particular u(1) gauge theory. in the first part of the paper the framework of fiber bundle gauge theories is briefly presented and the interpretation of local gauge symmetry will be examined. in the second part, an ontological underdetermination of gauge theories is carved out by considering the various kinds of non-locality involved in such typical effects as the aharonov-bohm effect. the analysis shows that the peculiar form of non-separability figuring in gauge theories is a variant of spatiotemporal holism and can be distinguished from quantum theoretic holism. in the last part of the paper the arguments for a gauge theoretic support of structural realism are laid out and discussed. © 2004 elsevier ltd. all rights reserved.”
Miller, E.. (2016). Quantum Holism. Philosophy Compass, 11(9), 507–514.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1111/phc3.12339
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Seevinck, M. P.. (2008). Parts and Wholes. An Inquiry into Quantum and Classical Correlations. Quantum Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/0811.1027
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“** the primary topic of this dissertation is the study of the relationships between parts and wholes as described by particular physical theories, namely generalized probability theories in a quasi-classical physics framework and non-relativistic quantum theory. ** a large part of this dissertation is devoted to understanding different aspects of four different kinds of correlations: local, partially-local, no-signaling and quantum mechanical correlations. novel characteristics of these correlations have been used to study how they are related and how they can be discerned via bell-type inequalities that give non-trivial bounds on the strength of the correlations. ** the study of quantum correlations has also prompted us to study a) the multi-partite qubit state space with respect to its entanglement and separability characteristics, and b) the differing strength of the correlations in separable and entangled qubit states. results include a novel classification of multipartite (partial) separability and entanglement, strong constraints on the monogamy of entanglement and of non-local correlations, and many new entanglement detection criteria that are directly experimentally accessible. ** because of the generality of the investigation these results also have strong foundational as well as philosophical repercussions for the different sorts of physical theories as a whole; notably for the viability of hidden variable theories for quantum mechanics, for the possibility of doing experimental metaphysics, for the question of holism in physical theories, and for the classical vs. quantum dichotomy.”
Styhre, A.. (2010). The concept of transduction and its use in organization studies. E:CO Emergence: Complexity and Organization, 12(3), 115–131.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0526(199807/08)3:6<12::AID-CPLX2>3.0.CO;2-0
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“This paper discusses the concept of transduction introduced by french philosopher gilbert simondon as a generalized model for the individuation of entities, that is, when heterogeneous resources are brought together and temporarily stabilized into functional units. simondon’s thinking, influential in deleuze’s philosophy and stiegler’s view of technology, is then used to examine two non-reductionist theoretical frameworks of organization, schatzki’s concept of the ‘site of the social’ and czarniawska’s ‘action nets’. both these two theories of organizing adhere to a generalized model of organizing that is fruitfully examined through simondon’s work. the paper concludes that process-based theories of organizing, indebted to weick’s (1969) seminal work, may be increasingly influenced by what in the paper is called biophilosophical writings, theories addressing the ceaseless becoming of biological organisms.”
