No man is an island- he is a holon. A Janus-faced entity who, looking inward, sees himself as a self-contained unique whole, looking outward as a dependent part. His self-assertive tendency is the dynamic manifestation of his unique wholeness, his autonomy and independence as a holon. Its equally universal antagonist, the integrative tendency, expresses his dependence on the larger whole to which he belongs: his 'part-ness.'.
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The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may read more
The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may be called "sciences as one would." For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride; things not commonly believed, out of deference to the opinion of the vulgar. Numberless in short are the ways, and sometimes imperceptible, in which the affections color and infect the understanding.
It is impossible to describe any human action if one does not refer to the meaning the actor sees in read more
It is impossible to describe any human action if one does not refer to the meaning the actor sees in the stimulus as well as in the end his response is aiming at.
There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.
There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
The most basic inherent constraint is that neither time nor wisdom are free goods available in unlimited quantity. This means read more
The most basic inherent constraint is that neither time nor wisdom are free goods available in unlimited quantity. This means that in social processes, as in economic processes, it is not only impossible to attain perfection but irrational to seek perfection- or even to seek the "best possible" result in each separate instance.
I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.
I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.
The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his read more
The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.
Violence arises not out of superfluity of power but out of powerlessness.
Violence arises not out of superfluity of power but out of powerlessness.
The inertia of the human mind and its resistance to innovation are most clearly demonstrated not, as one might expect, read more
The inertia of the human mind and its resistance to innovation are most clearly demonstrated not, as one might expect, by the ignorant mass- which is easily swayed once its imagination is caught- but by professionals with a vested interest in tradition and in the monopoly of learning. Innovation is a twofold threat to academic mediocrities: it endangers their oracular authority, and it evokes the deeper fear that their whole, laboriously constructed intellectual edifice might collapse. The academic backwoodsmen have been the curse of genius from Aristarchus to Darwin and Freud; they stretch, a solid and hostile phalanx of pedantic mediocrities, across the centuries.
