What is Reductionism: Definition and 13 Discussions

Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena, which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical position that interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts.

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  1. ohwilleke

    I Can Core Theory Be Derived From Nine Lines?

    Christoph Schiller, "From maximum force to physics in 9 lines -- and implications for quantum gravity" arXiv:2208.01038 (July 31, 2022). This paper asserts that nine propositions can be used to derive the Standard Model and GR and can point the way to quantum gravity, although he cheats a bit...
  2. S

    I How does the Singularity produce all the diverse matter in the universe?

    How does the Singularity produce all of the diverse matter and properties that we observe in the Universe today? Although Theories like Quantum Gravity have somewhat produced indications about the existence of Graviton particles and allow some form of Gravity to operate within the laws of...
  3. S

    How Do You Get From 1's and 0's to complex software and digital info?

    How do simple Architectural basic computing binary code signaling create a diversity of information and software properties from information signals of existence (=1's) and non-existence (=0's)? After reading some Theoritical and Analytical Science papers recently about the debate on...
  4. P

    I How does a physicist view mental phenomenons?

    I am curious to know how modern physics stand on things that we cannot detect or measure, yet are very much present and real in everyday lifes such as the will and motivation. Is it reducible to physics even though you could never detect or measure it? Or do you consider them abstract phenomenons?
  5. J

    Reductionism and Forum Conversations

    At least as far back as the Greeks people have been trying to understand things by looking at lower and lower levels to find the first principles which determine all things. We break things into their components, and then into materials and then into compounds and then into atoms. This works...
  6. F

    Can we understand QM by giving up reductionism?

    Quantum mechanics is a funny theory. In many respects we don't understand it, but on the other hand we know how to apply it incredibly well, it is probably the most successful theory that we have. This makes it a very unique theory in that we obviously do understand very well because we can...
  7. Q_Goest

    Analytical and Physical Separation Below the Mesoscopic Scale

    There seems to be a fundamental issue that prevents one from applying truly reductionist concepts below the mesoscopic scale, the scale of molecules and molecular interactions. Note that we could also look at this scale separation as being at the level between classical mechanics and quantum...
  8. N

    Tomorrow's healthcare professionals, tomorrow's medications & reductionism

    1. Is it likely that traditional doctors (having been schooled in biology and chemistry) will be replaced my medical physicists in the future? Will the life sciences of today move more and more into physics, meaning that any healthcare professional will need to have fundamental training in...
  9. R

    What is the relationship between reductionism and complexity?

    I'm looking for some good definitions/ explanations of the two words reductionism and complexity. As I once read reductionist say emergent properties and complex behaviour are epistemological issues, necessary conceptualisations to make the world understandable. Any additional non-physical...
  10. M

    Reductionism vs. holism in science

    Hmmm, just realized this thread would fit better in here.. so here we go again... Hi all, I'm trying to find some examples of reductionism vs holistic examples within Earth sciences. Can someone give me a few hints? I already checked georef and similar, but the few hits I found only let to...
  11. M

    Reductionism vs holism in earth science

    reductionism vs holism Hi all, I'm trying to find some examples of reductionism vs holistic examples within Earth sciences. Can someone give me a few hints? I already checked georef and similar, but the few hits I found only let to articles which required much more reading to fully...
  12. R

    Excessive reductionism in Biology?

    One of keys in the development of the modern Biology, exemplified by the advances in Genetics was due to a reductionist view. Nevertheless it is possible that an excess of reductionism have side effects. So, face to Biochemistry, less work was done in Biophysics (reflected in databases as...
  13. H

    Refutation of reductionism (excerpt from The Fabric of Reality, by David Deutsch)

    Refutation of reductionism (excerpt from "The Fabric of Reality," by David Deutsch) The whole title of this thread should read "Refutation of reductionism as a fundamental explanatory framework (excerpt from The Fabric of Reality, by David Deutsch)" but there wasn't enough room for that...
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