A term coined by Arthur Koestler. In Integral Theory, a holon refers to a whole that is
simultaneously part of another whole, or “whole/part.” Whole atoms are parts of whole
molecules, which themselves are parts of whole cells, and so on. There are individual
holons and social holons. The main difference between the two is that individual holons
have a subjective awareness or dominant monad (an “I”), while social holons have an
intersubjective awareness, dominant mode of discourse, or predominant mode of
resonance (a “We”/“Its”): social holons emerge when individual holons commune.
Individual and social holons follow the twenty tenets. Lastly, “holon,” in the broadest
sense, simply means “any whole that is a part of another whole,” and thus artifacts and
heaps can loosely be considered “holons.”
