Holistic - Origin of the term

1. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH Holistic - Origin of the term The word was used for the first time in 1926 by South African philosopher J.C. Smuts in his work on Holism and evolution, and it was Alfred Adler who first brought the term to Europe. For Smuts holism designates a vital force responsible for the formation of wholes, from atoms and molecules (in the PHYSICAL PLANE), to cells (BIOLOGICAL LEVEL), to ideas (PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL) and then personality (SPIRITUAL LEVEL). Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

2. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE • The expression "holistic perspective" was first used in 1975 in the work of Monique Thoeing. • Etymology: the "holistic" adjective comes from the Greek holos meaning “everything, whole, total, complete". • New paradigm: The holistic perspective represents a new ontological and epistemological paradigm that conceives of reality as a COMPLEX DYNAMIC WHOLE, INTEGRATED and INTERDEPENDENT. • Includes several approaches: The holistic perspective includes multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary approaches that emphasise complementarity and the influence of diverse cultural forces and historical perspectives. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

3. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH • The Emergent Vision: Holistic thought recognizes the existence of an emergent vision of science in which matter, life and consciousness are interconnected and complementary elements within a complex system. • A New Scientific Paradigm: How does holism appear in some sciences? • In the new physics • In the new biology • In the new psychology Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

4. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH HOLISM IN THE NEW SCIENTIFIC PARADIGM • Holism in the NEW PHYSICS: All the quantum states in the universe are interconnected. • Holism in the NEW BIOLOGY: The web of life is an interconnected whole, a living organism - a universe. • Holism in the NEW PSYCHOLOGY: There is a connectedness and communication between all things that coexist and Co-evolve in the cosmos and the biosphere. Human consciousness is part of this network of interconnections. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

5. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH Why use the term “PLANETARY” rather than “WORLD-WIDE”?Three important reasons justify the preference of the planetary adjective. 1 ITS SYMBOLIC AND OBJECTIVE POWER • The suggestive force of the term "planetary" compels us to visualize the globe from outside, in the dark and infinite universe, as an integrated whole. Satellite photography helps to give us a sense of this perspective. • This view, from the outside, facilitates a more objective and impartial approach to nature and humanity as a whole. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

6. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH 2 THE FUTURIST PERSPECTIVE. • The "planetary" adjective can be associated with groups that investigate extra-terrestrial phenomena. I do not have direct links with them, but according to the present state of human science and technology, and from a wider perspective of the Totality of Reality, it is not possible to categorically deny speculation on "forms of intelligent life beyond our planet” in a logical and rational way. • Today contemporary science has reached its limit in the study of measurable, calculable and predictable phenomenon. • Only time and future investigation will decide the truth or otherwise of current scientifically questionable conjectures. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

7. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH 3 SEMANTIC PRECISION • The word “planet” has a specific scientific definition in astronomy, and a much older esoteric use in astrology. It is also used frequently in contemporary debates on environmental or ecological questions. • The word “world” also has many meanings. For example “world” in several languages means “an indeterminate number of people" and "worldly” can describe someone who becomes "excessively attached to the pleasures of the body", which prevents the integration of body, mind and spirit in the human being. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

8. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH PLANETARYTHINKING • "planetary thinking contrasts the universal with the concrete, the general with the singular - the cosmic universe and the terrestrial are to be united“. • To educate in the planetary era involves complexity and uncertainty in learning and thinking. Morin, Edgar.(2002).Salamanca: UNESCO/Universidad de Valladolid/APPC, p. 96 Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

9. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH PLANETARY THINKING • Planetary thinking sees the Earth as a whole, a physical and spiritual totality, and demands for that reason the development of a deep feeling of planetary ethics and political responsibility. • This thinking sees the Earth as a Great Common Mother because it is the Home of all people, of all the towns and cultures that coexist on the planet. • Our human condition - material and spiritual - and our natural planetary bond as “Earth dwellers", or "Earth inhabitants", means we need to think ethically and ecologically to conserve and protect it because she is our Great Mother - a macro-habitat on which depends our survival as a species today and into the future. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

10. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH PLANETARY THINKING • The concept of Earth-Mother: From the French thinker Edgar to Morin, the concept of Earth as a “Mother Country” is about a fundamental web of consciousness and sense of belonging that links Humanity with the Earth. • The planet Earth is considered first and last as a mother country. The planet which the explorer Jacques Cousteau, also of French origin, called a "special ship" in the first rule of his Decalogue of the Sea. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

11. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH PLANETARY THINKING • The "spaceship" Earth: Our planet is like a small spaceship travelling quietly and alone in the immensity of the deep space, the dark Universe. On board all the people of the world act differently - there are captains and many sailors. • The certainty of our planetary destiny: The destiny of the entire crew of the ship "Earth", of each member, depends on the conservation and security of the ship as a whole. • Through this simple analogy it is possible to appreciate how the holistic and planetary perspectives are intermingled, since they are complementary and interdependent. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

12. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH THE HOLISTIC-PLANETARY PARADIGM • The holistic-planetary paradigm tries to accelerate the building of a planetary society or, better still, of a planetary civilization. This process I call "the planetarization of humanity". • This process requires, however, the beginnings in many groups or existing organizations of: planetary consciousness, planetary education, planetary identity, planetary philosophy, planetary wisdom, and planetary spirituality. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

13. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH THE HOLISTIC-PLANETARY PARADIGM • Through history there has been a progressive sprouting of these groups or cultural organizations. I call this process the "planetarization of the human condition". • This process of planetarization of the human species, given the present state of economic and cultural development of our civilization, is NECESSARY, GRADUAL and IRREVERSIBLE. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

14. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH THE HOLISTIC-PLANETARY PARADIGM • However, to channel this process of planetarization of humanity the new civilization that is about to be born needs to ground itself in new values and new moral and political principles. • To establish such planetary-wide values it becomes necessary to propose a new ethics and a new politics: a PLANETARY ETHICS and a PLANETARY POLITICS, not just world-wide as we have now. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

15. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH SOME AUTHORS OF "PLANETARY" PROPOSALS • There are several thinkers who have developed, in different forms, degrees and levels, ethical-political proposals related directly or indirectly to the proposal of holistic-planetary thinking that is being developed here. Last century the proposals of MartinHeidegger and Teilhardde Chardin were emphasised. • This century we have the “human poetics", “human politics" and "planetary citizenship" of EdgarMorin, the "planetary spirituality" of PeterRoche, the "transdisciplinary approach" of BasarabNicolescu, the “planetary government" or "United States of the World" of RobertMuller and the "environmental complexity" of EnriqueLeff. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

16. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH PLANETARY THINKING In synthesis: • 1. A planetary perspective assumes that the universal truth of human thought is both HISTORICAL and EVOLUTIONARY. • 2. This "universal" truth lies in the essential COMMON BIOLOGICAL and SPIRITUAL IDENTITYof the human species in all its different cultural forms. • 3. A planetary perspective sees all human beings, in spite of evident cultural differences, as INHABITANTS of the SAME PLANET called Earth. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

17. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH Planetary Thinking • 4. The planetary perspective seeks to preserve the WEALTH of ETHNIC DIVERSITY and to promote a CULTURAL PLURALISM that assures the necessary conditions of well-being, peace, security, prosperity and spiritual achievement for all the inhabitants of the planet, respecting and promoting the free exercise of beliefs and unique cultural values. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought

18. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE EARTH? ENVIRONMENTAL RATIONALITY ANDSOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN HOLISTIC PLANETARY APPROACH Planetary Thinking • 5. Given the theoretical and practical ineffectiveness of the present pre-planetary epistemological models (born during Modernity to explain and to solve the world-wide problems of humanity) it is important that the planetary holistic paradigm promotes TRANSCULTURAL,TRANSRELIGIOUS,TRANSPOLITICAL (B. Nicolescu) and even, TRANSPHILOSOPHICALATTITUDES. Victor Montero CamPeruvian Institute of Holistic-Planetary Thought