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provided us with new
insights into human nature -- but only into those rather elementary,
non-specific aspects of human nature which we share with dogs, rats
or geese, while the specifically and exclusively human aspects which
define the uniqueness of our species are left out of the picture. And
since these unique characteristics are manifested both in the creativity
and pathology of man, scientists of the reductionist persuasion cannot
qualify as competent diagnosticians any more than they qualify as art
critics. That is why the scientific establishment has so pitifully
failed to define the predicament of man. If he is really an automaton,
there is no point in putting a stethoscope to his chest.

Once more, then: if the symptoms of our pathology are species-specific,
i.e., exclusively human, then the explanations for them must be sought
on the same exclusive level. This conclusion is not inspired by hubris,
but by the evidence provided by the historical record. The diagnostic
approaches that I have briefly outlined, were: (a) the explosive growth
of the human neocortex and its insufficient control of the old brain; (b)
the protracted helplessness of the newborn and its consequent uncritical
submissiveness to authority; (c) the twofold curse of language as a
rabble-rouser and builder of ethnic barriers; (d) lastly, the discovery
of, and the mind-splitting fear of death. Each of these factors will be
discussed in more detail later on.

To neutralize these pathogenic tendencies does not seem an impossible task.
Medicine has found remedies for certain types of schizophrenic and
manic-depressive psychoses; it is no longer utopian to believe that
it will discover a combination of benevolent enzymes which provide
the neocortex with a veto against the follies of the archaic brain,
correct evolution's glaring mistake, reconcile emotion with reason, and
catalyse the breakthrough from maniac to man. Still other avenues are
waiting to be explored and may lead to salvation in the nick of time,
provided that there is a sense of urgency, derived from the message of
the new calendar -- and a correct diagnosis of the condition of man,
based on a new approach to the sciences of life.

The chapters that follow are concerned with some aspects of this new
approach which in recent years have begun to emerge from the sterile
deserts of reductionist philosophy. Thus we shall now leave the pathology
of man, and turn from disorder to a fresh look at biological order and
mental creativity. Some of the questions raised in the previous pages
will be taken up again as we go along -- and eventually, I hope, fall
into a coherent pattern.

PART ONE

Outline of a System

I

The Holarchy

1

Beyond Reductionism -- New Perspectives in the Life Sciences was the
title of a symposium which I had the pleasure and privilege to organize
in 1968, and which subsequently aroused much controversy.* One of the
participants, Professor Viktor Franld, enlivened the proceedings by some
choice examples of reductionism in psychiatry, quoted from current books
and periodicals. Thus, for instance:
Many an artist has left a psychiatrist's office enraged by
    interpretations which suggest that he paints to overcome a strict
    bowel training by free smearing.

    We are led to believe that Goethe's work is but the result of
    pre-genital fixations. Goethe's struggle does not really aim for
    an ideal, for beauty, for values, but for the overcoming of an
    embarrassing problem of premature ejaculation. . . . [1]

     * It is usually referred to as the 'Alpbach Symposium' after the
     Alpine resort where it was held. The participants were:
     Ludwig von Bertalanffy (Faculty Professor, State University of
     New York at Buffalo), Jerome S. Bruner (Director, Center for
     Cognitive Studies, Harvard University), Blanche Bruner (Center
     for Cognitive Studies, Harvard University), Viktor E. Frankl
     (Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Vienna),
     F. A. Hayek (Professor of Economics,