what's the meaning of the whole is bigger than its part?

Answer 1

Imagine Australia. It is PART of the planet Earth. Now, imagine the Earth. It is the WHOLE of the Earth. So the whole is bigger than it's part.

Answer 2

The phrase i know is ....the sum of the parts is bigger than the whole... it means that if you break something into smaller parts it is worth more than the thing when it was together for example if you have a broken car you can take it all to a scarp yard and probably get £40 depending on the price of scrap, however if you took it to pieces you could probably sell the tyres for £5 each (£25 if you count the spare), you could then probably sell the battery for £5, the seats for £40, any decent body panels for£10 each(4 doors, bonnet, boot and 2 wings possible £80) so you already have £150 you could possibly get £100 for the engine, you also hve the gearbox, exhaust system etc etc.

so when you add up total of the parts it is worth more than the total of the whole car.

the only draw back is if you sell the car as a whole you get the money there and then, in your hand in a lump sum. if you split the car and sell the bits off individually, not only do you have the extra work, but you could be stuck with the pieces for years and only get the money in small amounts.

hope that helps, sorry if its a bit wordy but its hard to explain.

Answer 3

I cannot help thinking that may be you meant, ‘the sum of the parts is bigger than the whole’, instead of, ‘the whole is bigger than its parts’, which is so too obvious; or may be you wanted to say, ‘the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. The first saying is most commonly known and cited when it is meant to bring home the fact that there is a certain value in things coming together to form an alliance for instance.

However, if I take your logic as it is then I would say that this is also true. But this truth might be too simplistic to need any elaborate proof. For instance, one plus one makes two and this two, that is in fact the whole of two ones, is always bigger than one.

But here is another thought:
What if I say that there is nothing in the world but the whole of all parts in existence?

For the purpose of explanation let’s take that number two again: two is but one plus one, one counted twice; then take number three, three is but one counted three times, and four is but ones counted one by one only once and so on. Howsoever large a number may be in its characteristics it still is cumulating of one counted over and over again in essence. One is the largest number as it is, the only number in the reality of all things.

Answer 4

(Read Gestalt psychology).

The assembled entity as a whole transcends its constituents added separately. Individually each part contributes to a larger function or idea, such as ideas from words, which, if taken individually, or arranged differently, would not convey or embody the same significance.

The parts are subservient to a greater goal and become more powerful as a whole than when isolated and extracted from its role in serving the idea, which is not its parts added together, but something beyond it.

Take a quality painting for example, where the elements of the composition, such as colour, line, texture, scale, proportions, etc. all work together to produce the elevated outcome, revealing or producing what they in themselves do not constitute or carry in isolation, nor would if assembled differently.

Answer 5

Sorry to quibble, but the expression usually states "the sum of its parts" not bigger than its parts.

The theory evolved out of the fear of humans and abandonment.

For example, is one soldier (a part) more than the all of the parts of an army? (sum of the parts) Which is more, greater, bigger, etc.?

It is based on the notion that "no man is an island" and there is strength or greater meaning in numbers.

You may want to consider looking into systems thinking or Gestalt perception theory, or Gestalt philosophy/psychology.

Answer 6

"The whole is bigger than the sum of it's parts"
This speaks of synergy.
A troop of 10 soldiers is more deadly than 10 individual soldiers are.
Taking 2 Valium and drinking 3 beers has a much greater effect than the two individually, added together.

Answer 7

It is the improper expression that reminds us that the whole is more valuable than merely the sum of its parts in unrelated condition. Unrelated parts do not give a conception for the conjoined parts in their whole working order as one thing doing its thing.

e.g. "Chapter 1 Mechanism
§ 1543

As objectivity is the totality of the Notion withdrawn into its unity, an immediate is thereby posited that is in and for itself this totality, and is also posited as such, although in it the negative unity of the Notion has not as yet detached itself from the immediacy of this totality; in other words, objectivity is not yet posited as judgment. In so far as it has the Notion immanent in it, it contains the difference of the Notion, but on account of the objective totality, the differentiated moments are complete and self-subsistent objects which consequently, even in their relation, stand to one another only as self-subsistent things and remain external to one another in every combination. This is what constitutes the character of mechanism, namely, that whatever relation obtains between the things combined, this relation is one extraneous to them that does not concern their nature at all, and even if it is accompanied by a semblance of unity it remains nothing more than composition, mixture, aggregation and the like. Spiritual mechanism also, like material, consists in this, that the things related in the spirit remain external to one another and to spirit itself. A mechanical style of thinking, a mechanical memory, habit, a mechanical way of acting, signify that the peculiar pervasion and presence of spirit is lacking in what spirit apprehends or does. Although its theoretical or practical mechanism cannot take place without its self-activity, without an impulse and consciousness, yet there is lacking in it the freedom of individuality, and because this freedom is not manifest in it such action appears as a merely external one."

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hl/hlobject.htm#HL3_711

The Will is positive, the Judgment is negative and the two are mind. Intuitively, would you say that the mind is merely the sum for these parts? Or would you say they have a complex manifold relation.

Answer 8

I relate this to the human body most easily. We have many parts, and I'm not just talking about arms and legs, etc. We have many systems in our bodies that do many different things to make us function, to make us exist. We have a brain to process information, but is that you? Are you the wrinkles in your brain? Are you the heart that beats in your chest? That's part of you, but what are you? Gray matter? Nerve endings?

I submit that man is greater than the parts that he is comprised of. That everything works individually, but that we are more than just their sum. Something that is so powerful that nothing describes it half so well and feeling your spirit surge within your body, and with awe whispering 'I am'.

Answer 9

If something we call WHOLE, has a part, it means that it has at least one more part.

WHOLE = 100%
PART 1 > 0%
PART 2 < 100%

This can be varied with more parts.

Answer 10

It's a lie. Mass defect says that the mass of an atom (ie the whole) is less than the sum of its parts (ie its protons, neutrons and electrons)