There has been a marked trend towards supporting holistic approaches in recent years.
Smuts (1926) proposed the concept of holism in the 1920s. Eighty years on modern
holism is still poorly defined, although it implies acceptance that ‘the whole is greater
than the sum of the parts’ and the idea that modern science has unwisely tended towards
excessive reductionism (the standard, modern, scientific view that everything is explainable
from the basic principles, and by focused, objective research), empiricism (use of
data to prove a case) and compartmentalisation (isolation of fields of study from each
other). In short, holistic research seeks to understand the totality of problems rather than
their components. In all but the simplest environments problems tend to be so complex
that an effective holistic approach is difficult. There are situations where a holistic
approach is to be welcomed; unfortunately, there are many situations where it will not
work and there are dangers in over-enthusiastic use (in 1998 the University of Plymouth,
UK, launched an M.Sc. in holistic science). As already stressed, established ‘reductionist’
science has yielded a great deal – modern society owes its well-being to it – so
it is very unwise to think of wholly abandoning it (Atkinson, 1991a: 154). With pressures
for holistic approaches and popular interest in pseudo-science and anti-scientific
theories, commonly presented by the media as truth, care is needed to ensure that support
for science is not eroded. Popular pressure also tends to polarise support for research
– some fields are attractive to citizens and politicians, and others (even though they
may be vital) are not. Another pressure is the growing demand, and therefore funding,
for applied research rather than studies into what has no obvious practical outcome.