Karstology and the Demands of Holistic Science

Already with its emergence about 120 years ago, karstology was primarily characterised as an activity that cannot be limited to a single discipline, but is liable to a karst region, which according to estimates takes up to a fifth of the world's land. During the 20th century karstology was primarily developed as part of physical geosciences and was applied in civil engineering, forestry and agriculture. At the end of the 20th century it was defined as an independent, integrated research system developed from multidisciplinary scientific approaches that independently study specific karst issues (Panos 1995). Defined as a holistic science, karstology is only at its beginning, and much is expected of the application of humanistic approaches, which in recent decades have undergone revolutionary changes in the perception of nature. The demands of karstology in the Dinaric karst are even more challenging, because it developed in that largest European karst area, and it took and globally affirmed a number of traditional terms for karst phenomena as its own technical terms. The paper brings the main problems associated with the current perception of karst, based on its partial picture and not a whole. Furthermore, it explains some harmful consequences, considers the concept of holism and the possibility of its application in karstology, examines previous karstology experiences with holistic approaches and analyses requirements that holism sets in regard to karst sciences.