Editing Holism in science (section)

{{Short description|Approach to research that emphasizes the study of complex systems}}
'''Holism in science''', '''holistic science''', or '''methodological holism''' is an approach to [[research]] that emphasizes the study of [[complex systems]]. Systems are approached as coherent wholes whose component parts are best understood in context and in relation to both each other and to the whole. [[Holism]] typically stands in contrast with [[reductionism]], which describes systems by dividing them into smaller components in order to understand them through their elemental properties.<ref name="Alan2002">{{cite book|author=Marshall Alan|author-link=Alan Marshall (New Zealand author)|title=Unity Of Nature, The: Wholeness And Disintegration In Ecology And Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Oy3CgAAQBAJ|date=4 October 2002|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-1-78326-116-1}}</ref>

The holism-[[methodological individualism|individualism]] dichotomy is especially evident in conflicting interpretations of experimental findings across the social sciences, and reflects whether behavioural analysis begins at the systemic, macro-level (ie. derived from social relations) or the component micro-level (ie. derived from individual agents).<ref>Zahle, J. [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/holism-social/ ''Methodological Holism and the Social Sciences''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502110527/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/holism-social/ |date=2022-05-02 }}</ref>