Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

44 Philosophical Foundations of Health Education
was evolved into a separate discipline from physical education. These perspectives
should be integrated with Smuts ’ philosophy of holism.
The holistic perspective will help health educators accomplish the goals of facilitating
health as a positive condition of the individual as a whole. The philosophical
tenets of holism are conducive to health education curricula based upon the conceptual
approach, for example, the School Health Education Study, 1967. Holism can be synthesized
into a philosophical framework from which the spiritual dimension of health
can be developed without contradicting the science of evolution.
In addition, we should research and develop Smuts ’ science of Personology and
the method of biography as one means to determine the principles of health as a
dynamic condition of the individual considered as a whole organism - personality (synthetically
versus analytically). Holistic research designs for health education may be
derived from the work of the general systems theorists, such as Ludwig von Bertalanffy;
the studies of existential, humanistic psychologists; and those psychotherapists who
advocate a holistic view of humankind — for example, Perls ’ Gestalt therapy,
Assagioli ’ s psychosynthesis, and Tournier ’ s “ whole person ” therapy.
Within the historical and philosophical context of holism, we can develop a set of
principles to guide our attitudes towards health, our teaching methods, and our understanding
of the relationships between mind and body, teacher and student, human and
environment, health educator and the health care delivery system.
The holistic worldview serves as the rational premise necessary to produce health
education professionals devoted to the understanding and furtherance of health as a
positive goal.
REFERENCES
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Smuts, J. C. (1926). Holism and evolution . New York: Macmillan.
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