holon meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

holon

noun

Etymology From hole + -on.

Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics Particle One of three kinds of quasiparticle (the others being the spinon and orbiton) that electrons in solids are able to split into during the process of spin–charge separation, when extremely tightly confined at temperatures close to absolute zero.

Derived terms: antiholon

holon

noun

Etymology From holo- (from Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”)) + -on (like taxon or meron). Coined by Arthur Koestler in his 1967 book The Ghost in the Machine.

Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences Something that is both a part and a whole.

Before an atom is an atom, it is a holon. Before a cell is a cell, it is a holon. Before an idea is an idea, it is a holon. All of them are wholes that exist in other wholes, and thus they are all whole/parts, or holons, first and foremost (long before any “particular characteristics” are singled out by us).1995, Ken Wilber, “The Pattern That Connects”, in Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, Shambhala, →ISBN, Book One, pages 33–34:

Related terms: holonym, holonic, holarchy