VI FUNCTIONS AND CATEGORIES 125 



whole. From the synthetic unity of the whole follows the 

 holistic action of all its parts, as well as the characteristic 

 power of correlating and regulating which the whole seems 

 to exert in respect of the parts. All these properties really 

 flow from the idea and nature of the whole; once this idea 

 is clearly realised, the true principle of organic explanation 

 is found, and the application of the ideas and methods of 

 mechanism or vitalism becomes superfluous, as we shall see 

 later. 



In order to assist us in rendering clear our ideas of the 

 whole and holistic action, as distinguished from those of a 

 mechanical aggregate and mechanical action, let us consider 

 a material system in dynamic equilibrium, which has many 

 analogies to the ideas we are exploring. The character of 

 such a system is that within certain limits it will maintain 

 its equilibrium against disturbance and interference. If it 

 meets with any disturbance, such as an external impact 

 or any interference with its internal movements, its equi- 

 librium will for a moment be disturbed; but immediately 

 readjustments will take place, the effects of the disturbance 

 will become distributed throughout the system, new positions 

 of the parts and new movements of these parts will result, 

 with the effect that a fresh equilibrium is established, and 

 the system, with a somewhat altered arrangement of parts 

 and movements, will once more be in dynamic equilibrium. 

 When we pass from this physical system to an organic 

 whole a transformation of ideas takes place: the system 

 becomes a synthesis qualitatively different from the system, 

 a synthesis so intense that a new unity arises and a different 

 order of ideas becomes necessary for its explanation. To 

 the mechanical readjustment of the parts correspond the 

 regulation and correlation which the organic whole exercises 

 in respect of its parts; with this difference, again, that 

 while the new mechanical equilibrium is the exact mathe- 

 matical resultant of the component forces, in the organic 

 whole, parts and whole reciprocally influence and alter 

 each other instead of merely the parts making up the whole, 

 and in the end it is practically impossible to say where the 



