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What in the whole denotes a causal equilibrium process, appears for the part as a teleological event.

— Ludwig von Bertalanffy

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Philosophy

More quotes by Ludwig von Bertalanffy

Progress is only possible by passing from a state of undifferentiated wholeness to differentiation of parts.

General System Theory (1968)

Wholeness [Ganzheit], Gestalt, is the primary attribute of life.

Kritische Theorie der Formbildung (1928)

The stream of life is maintained only in continuous flow of matter through all groups of organisms.

Apparently, the isomorphisms of laws rest in our cognition on the one hand, and in reality on the other.

General System Theory (1968)

We completely agree that description by differential equations is not only a clumsy but, in principle, inadequate way to deal with many problems of organization.

General System Theory (1968)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Every morning
I shall concern myself anew about the boundary
Between the love-deed-Yes and the power-deed-No
And pressing forward honor reality.

Martin Buber Power and Love (1926)

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended.

John C. Lilly The Human Biocomputer (1974)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ludwig von Bertalanffy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.