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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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The whole is greater...
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1
2009/08/09 - 2:06pm

My husband and I were talking about "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" and wondering if there is a word that means what the phrase conveys. The closest I could come up with is "gestalt" but that's more-specific to psychology and has more to do with parts being fused inextricably together rather than adding up to more.

Ideas?

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2
2009/08/09 - 4:24pm

Perhaps “holism” will work. I always learned your phrase as the classic restatement of the Gestalt principle of holism. I think (unconfirmed) that this phrase was coined in the context of Gestalt and its priciple of holism.

johng423
129 Posts
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3
2009/08/17 - 3:06pm

How does the word "synergy" relate to this idea?

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