Dictionary

reductionism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English reduction Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English reductionism From reduction + -ism.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) An approach to studying complex systems or ideas by reducing them to a set of simpler components.
2. (countable, uncountable) A philosophical position which holds that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents. In a reductionist framework, the phenomena that can be explained completely in terms of relations between other more fundamental phenomena are called "epiphenomena".

Forms

Deriveds

antireductionism · neuroreductionism · nonreductionism

Relateds

reductionist · holism · reductivism

Translations (15)

fi reduktionismi ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · ba редукционизм ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · fi reduktionismi (approach of studying complex systems) · fr réductionnisme (approach of studying complex systems) · id reduksionisme (approach of studying complex systems) · kk редукционизм ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · cs redukcionismus (approach of studying complex systems) · ky редукционизм ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · cmn 化約論 /化约论 ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · tr redüksiyonizm ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · cmn 還原論 /还原论 ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · id reduksionisme ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · hy ռեդուկցիոնիզմ ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · tr indirgemecilik ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components) · fr réductionnisme ((philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components)