Where do you fit?
jeff owens, 4-15-2001
Today the world appears to be going through several
struggles. At a personal level i find myself deciding the
same issues and trying to sort out the long term impacts of
my actions. In thinking about this struggle i developed some
questions that may be useful.
The following quiz views the world as split between the
dichotomies of reductionistic thinking and holistic processes.
In real life dichotomies probably do not exist but they are
useful for intermediate analysis. If you are interested in
finding where you fit try these questions:
1. If reductionist science breaks everything into small understandable
components and holistic science looks at the whole, then
how holistic would you rate these areas of science:
physics very moderate balanced minimal
chemistry very moderate balanced minimal
biology very moderate balanced minimal
ecology very moderate balanced minimal
western medicine very moderate balanced minimal
agriculture very moderate balanced minimal
2. Does religion, compassion, and love fit in either reductionist or
holistic science?
few scientists see conflicts with compassion.
reductionist scientists have more conflicts with compassion.
holistic scientists have more conflicts with compassion.
3. In economics there is a struggle between those who want
free markets and those who want tightly controlled
markets. In general the free market group want a hands
off more holistic approach. Those who want tightly
controlled markets (communism, fascism, and socialism)
prefer a more reductionist approach of planning the
economy. At present we have many markets which are called
"free markets" but they are maturing into a few big
planned economic units (corporations). How did holistic
(free markets) ideas get turned into reductionist results?
(select all that fit)
Big economic power blocks create their own world.
Governments are meddling incorrectly with economics.
Governments should not meddle with economics.
Corporations are influencing government too much.
Corporate ideas are being ignored by government.
We need big efficient corporations to compete and feed the
world so this is just holism with big components.
4. In agriculture we have factory farming (reductionist) and
several holistic styles being practiced. What are the
most common components in the following:
(note: spirituality includes accepting man's ongoing limits of
understanding and chaos includes accepting nature as a partner)
organic farming (natural inputs, spirituality, diversity, chaos)
biodynamic farming (natural inputs, spirituality, diversity, chaos)
nature farming (natural inputs, spirituality, diversity, chaos)
agroforestry (natural inputs, spirituality, diversity, chaos)
modern agriculture (natural inputs, spirituality, diversity, chaos)
5. Positive feelings about other peoples, animals, plants, and places is
usually associated with reductionists processes or holistic
processes? (pick best choice)
breaking life into components helps removes compasion and feelings.
breaking life into components helps us build awe at the marvels
of nature.
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jeff owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
homepage - www.bctonline.com/users/jko
archives - [EMAIL PROTECTED]/
