definitions
Apithology
Apithology is the study of the health and well-being of systems.
More technically, apithology is concerned with identifying the essential dynamics for the enhancement of the healthy development of emergent systems and the elements needed to create an environment necessary to enable the structural and functional changes for perpetual sustainable growth. This may occur within any of the fields that look specifically at complex systems, such as medicine, sociology or biology.
You will not, however, find a reference to a definition of apithology in a dictionary or other reference work to the extent that collection deals with knowledge rather than knowledges. This is because apithology deals with the composite knowledges of inter-dependent disciplines - looking at the dynamics in the artificial lines of distinction between disciplines.
The practice of apithology has emerged from the development of a concept that, in essence, is the counterpart to its opposite, being the study of pathology. We can understand what apithology is by looking at the meaning of its more familiar antonym:
Pathology is defined as:
(pa·thol·o·gy) - n. pl. pa·thol·o·gies
1) The scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences. Also called patho-biology.
2) The anatomic or functional manifestations of a disease: (e.g. the pathology of cancer).
3) A departure or deviation from a normal condition: (e.g."Neighborhoods plagued by a self-perpetuating pathology of joblessness, welfare dependency, crime" (Time).)The converse term Apithology, can be defined as:
(api·thol·o·gy) - n. pl. API·thol·o·gies
1. The [systemic] study of the nature of [wellness] and its causes, processes, development, and consequences. Also called [apic-o]-biology.
2. The anatomic or functional manifestations of [health]: (e.g. the apithology of emergence).
3. A [conformance] or [adherence] to a [healthy] condition: (e.g. "Neighborhoods were enabled by the self-reinforcing apithology of community engagement, independence, kindness".)Just as the opposite of sickness - is not the absence of sickness, but health and wellbeing, the opposite of pathology is not the absence of pathology (being the absence of disease) - but is instead the presence of health - otherwise known as wellness.
We know that pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease within systems. Apithology is simply the study of the causes and effects of wellness within systems.
Just as the antonym of 'disease' is 'wellness', the antonym of apithological is pathological.
In a similar way, the antonym of apithology is pathology.
The word apithology is to be distinguished from:
apathiology [sic]~ Latin apatha, from Greek apatheia, from apaths ~ without feeling - The study of apathy.
apiology ~ Latin apis, meaning 'bee +' - The scientific or systematic study of honey bees.
apathological ~ Greek a, - an before a vowel, meaning ~ without, not - The absence of a pathology.
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