Life, The Multiverse And Everything: An Introduction To The Ideas Of Humberto Maturana Interpreting Maturana / quote 42 of 50
Composite unity; the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts"
With the composite unity we do something more. Firstly, we distinguish a simple unity and then we decompose it and separate its components and relations. In the Universe we would claim that the composite unity composed itself, independently of us and what we do. We would assume that the components were either there or not there, and that its characteristics were intrinsic, inherent and eternal. However, in the multiverse it is we who separate out the components and when we do this, we find that the components we bring forth have a peculiar relationship with the simple unity that they integrate, i.e. we say that the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts". Maturana finds this expression somewhat obscure because it does not reveal what this "greater" is which is brought forth.