Wholeness as Nested System of Centers

Alexander's quasi-mathematical definition of wholeness as a recursively nested system of living centers displaying local symmetries, approximating the overall gestalt of a configuration

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Concepts (3)

concept

Local Symmetries
implements
The property that living wholes contain many interlocking and overlapping local symmetries rather than overall symmetry; local symmetries act as glue holding space together, and their number predicts cognitive coherence
Strong Centers
implements
The property that living structures contain centers that are not merely blobs but strong, field-like centers that organize the space around them; every strong center is made of many other strong centers recursively
Proto-Mathematics
associated_with
Alexander's term for his treatment of wholeness: a structural idea that is mathematical in principle but not yet formalized enough to calculate with

Frameworks (2)

framework

Wholeness and Centers
related_to
Overarching conceptual scheme from The Nature of Order where a whole makes its parts, which are called centers, and centers intensify each other.
Principle of Unfolding Wholeness
extends
The principle that every natural process is governed by a step-by-step unfolding where each step preserves the structure of the wholeness, introduced in Chapter 1 and elaborated here.

Chapters (1)

chapter

Vol 2 Chapter 1: The Principle Of Unfolding Wholeness In Nature
cites
The opening chapter of The Process of Creating Life, arguing that a principle of unfolding wholeness governs the emergence of living structure in nature

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

The wholeness of any portion of the world is the system of larger and smaller centers, their connection and overlap.claim0.854
Definitional claim that clarifies how wholeness is constituted.
Life comes from the wholeness, from the system of centers.quote0.834
Summarizes the central thesis of the chapter.
Centers are above all, labile, they are foci of wholeness, they are not things, but regions, qualities, focal points of centeredness.quote0.813
Key definition capturing the non-atomic, relational nature of centers as fields rather than objects.
Centers within a whole intensify each other, resulting in a profound and lively whole.claim0.812
Alexander's core mechanism explaining how the Fifteen Properties function to create living wholes.
Wholenessconcept0.811
Alexander's core concept rejecting the idea that a whole consists of parts; instead, a whole makes its parts (called 'centers').
Nested centersconcept0.809
Centers that contain or are contained by other centers, forming the hierarchical structure of wholeness.
Theory of Wholeness (centers and life)framework0.809
The concept of wholeness as a system of centers at all scales, from Book 1; used as the structural basis for living process.
The wholeness is an autonomous and global structure, which is induced by the details of the configuration. It is a real physical and mathematical structure in space — but it is created indirectly, by symmetries and other relationships which are induced in the geometry.quote0.802
Load-bearing statement encapsulating the nature of wholeness as a real, induced structure.