atomicism

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Atomism.

   • A consciousness which has got rid of the thought of absolute being would become a prey to endless atomicism and dissolution .
   • Quite on the contrary, if we insist on the particle "allegory" we must grant that the so-called "particles" have strictly no individuality. In the end, the picture we get is closer to Plotinism than to philosophical atomicism!
2. 2

   The view that a system as is composed of separable, independent, self-contained units…

   The view that a system as is composed of separable, independent, self-contained units that can be examined and manipulated individually.

   • In the history of knowledge, atomicism has been the moving force behind the vast majority of scientific breakthroughs, especially in physics and mechanics.
   • But Cassirer may help us to realize that it is not geneticism alone that is being surpassed: a certain "atomicism” —i.e., the isolation of the single parts of a system — is also under general attack.
   • The third pair of presuppositions concerns methodology: methodological individualism or atomicism versus holism or organicism.

The neighborhood