In order to arrive at a diagnosis we first define the holons involved in a disease. For the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia the organism itself may serve as holon, and clinical manifestations of the anemia will be the necessary statements of the diagnosis set. Diagnosis will be tested by the response of the patient to iron treatment. If he does not respond, the diagnosis set has to be defined anew and tested again. Thus in spite of the fact that medical systems are more complex than physical, they can be simplified by the present method.
Clinical medicine is a science of complex systems.
The history of medicine is a continuous search for new holons and ways to incorporate them into the diagnosis set. The evolution of medicine involves the exploration of deeper and deeper holons. Initially the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia was based on the organism-holon. In spite of technological development, diagnosis of many disease is still based on the organism-holon. The main task of medical science is to select the appropriate holons that are to be included in the diagnosis set.