Holism and the Organismic Model in Developmental Psychology

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Abstract
Holism is a central feature of the organismic model of development. Although there has been some discussion of holism and how it differs from elementarism, a more detailed examination of it is necessary. Two types of holism are distinguished: methodological holism and metaphysical holism. Methodological holism is a claim that the organism qua organism should be studied. Metaphysical holism is the belief (I) that the whole is not the additive sum of its isolated parts and their external relations, (II) that the whole determines the nature of its parts and their characteristic ways of behaving, and (III) that the whole consists of parts that are internally related to each other. However, I is subject to several interpretations, especially concerning the question of whether the whole is reducible (a) to the parts, or (b) to the parts and their relations. Influential holists claim that a is false but b is true. But this is exactly what modern mechanists believe. An examination of this dispute reveals it is really a question about the nature of relations, and especially whether they are external or internal. The notion of internal relations is not inherently objectionable, however, and many current analytic philosophers endorse views very similar to it. It is concluded that the organismic model is a plausible research program in developmental psychology.

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