Well shit, I talked myself into arguing against holistic thinking. Hofstadter got it wrong. The opposite of holism is not reductionism (that still inherits the well-posedness delusion of holism). The opposite is fragmentism (shardism? disconnectionism? muttism? discordianism?)
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Reductionism is the belief that your solution to a problem will inevitably roll up into more complex solutions to bigger problems, all the way up to the problem of life, the universe and everything being 42.
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Fragmentism by contrast, doesn't expect any sort of coherent roll-up of a localized solution to any problem to anything bigger, more holistic. It is not an integrationist view of differential bits of the universe.
More strongly, it speculates that such roll-up is unnecessary
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Shartism. Discordianism appears to be holistic in its atomization. As Rev. Thom York said, "Everything in its right place"
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I will investigate this assertion. If true, I will abandon Discordianism as not discordant enough for me.
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Aren't those alternative fragmentism/shardism, disconnectionism, discordianism just euphemisms or synonyms for reductionism? Without these alternatives you can't have reductionism - simplisticationaism
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cue the age old debate of the one vs the many. hence dialectics. also Deleuze. (some might argue wave vs particle, which is to say, undecideability and/or mutual entanglement)
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That triggers memories of the discussion regarding the "Principle of Alternate Possibilities" around Harry G. Frankfurt. Not in the light of free will but in regards to the "roll up" of simple answers into a more complex world.
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