Also called reductivism.
The reducing of certain kinds of entities, or of theories, or even of whole sciences, to other, more basic, ones; entities that are reduced may be replaced (‘Father Christmas is really Daddy’) or simply explained (‘Water is really H2O’).
Phenomenalism, for instance, reduces material objects, or sentences about them, to experiences, or sets of sentences about these. Similarly, one version of physicalism claims to reduce the other sciences to physics by showing that all their concepts and theorems can be expressed in terms of physics without loss of information.
Contrasting approaches include holism and emergence theories, though intermediate positions can be held.
Reductionism in general appeals to empiricists, nominalists, and others who use Ockham’s razor to achieve a sparse ontology (or list of what there is).
Source:
E Agazzi, ed., The Problem of Reductionism in Science (1991)
Table of Contents
- 1 Videos
- 2 Related Products
- 2.1 Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures
- 2.2 Questioning Nineteenth-Century Assumptions about Knowledge, II: Reductionism (SUNY Series, Fernand Braudel Center Studies in Historical Social Science)
- 2.3 That Hideous Strength: (Space Trilogy, Book Three) (The Space Trilogy 3)
- 2.4 Vitalism and the Scientific Image in Post-Enlightenment Life Science, 1800-2010 (History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences (2))
- 2.5 Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism (Jacobin)
- 2.6 Chemistry, Quantum Mechanics and Reductionism: Perspectives in Theoretical Chemistry
- 2.7 Think Complexity: Complexity Science and Computational Modeling
- 2.8 The God Theory: Universes, Zero-Point Fields, and What's Behind It All
- 2.9 Doors in the Walls of the World: Signs of Transcendence in the Human Story
- 2.10 The Deeper Genome: Why there is more to the human genome than meets the eye
Videos
Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Kandel, Eric (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 238 Pages - 08/30/2016 (Publication Date) - Columbia University Press (Publisher)
That Hideous Strength: (Space Trilogy, Book Three) (The Space Trilogy 3)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Lewis, C. S. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 394 Pages - 04/03/2012 (Publication Date) - HarperOne (Publisher)
Vitalism and the Scientific Image in Post-Enlightenment Life Science, 1800-2010 (History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences (2))
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Hardcover Book
- English (Publication Language)
- 383 Pages - 06/28/2013 (Publication Date) - Springer (Publisher)
Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism (Jacobin)
- Reed, Toure (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 224 Pages - 02/25/2020 (Publication Date) - Verso (Publisher)
Chemistry, Quantum Mechanics and Reductionism: Perspectives in Theoretical Chemistry
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Primas, Hans (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 464 Pages - 12/06/2011 (Publication Date) - Springer-Verlag (Publisher)
Think Complexity: Complexity Science and Computational Modeling
- Downey, Allen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 200 Pages - 08/03/2018 (Publication Date) - O'Reilly Media (Publisher)
The God Theory: Universes, Zero-Point Fields, and What's Behind It All
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Haisch, Bernard (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 163 Pages - 04/01/2009 (Publication Date) - Weiser Books (Publisher)
Doors in the Walls of the World: Signs of Transcendence in the Human Story
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Kreeft, Peter (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 130 Pages - 08/22/2018 (Publication Date) - Ignatius Press (Publisher)
The Deeper Genome: Why there is more to the human genome than meets the eye
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Parrington, John (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 350 Pages - 10/06/2017 (Publication Date) - OUP Oxford (Publisher)
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