reductionism
Parts explain wholes
Reductionism is the approach of explaining complex phenomena by breaking them down into simpler, more fundamental parts.
In science, it means understanding systems through their smallest components—biology through chemistry, chemistry through physics.
Critics use the term dismissively when they feel something essential is lost in the simplification: His reductionism ignores how consciousness emerges from the whole brain, not just neurons firing.
Prioritizing goods over spirit
- physicalismAll is matter
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
- atomismDiscrete particles compose everything
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
monism · positivism · empiricism · scientism · parsimony · naturalism · causality · ontology
Break into simpler parts
- dissectCut open to examine
- break downFail mechanically or emotionally
- analyzeStudy by breaking down
- parseExamine syntax closely
isolate · deconstruct · atomize · partition · disaggregate · fragment · separate · subdivide
Remove essential complexity
- nothing butExclusively one thing
- explain awayMinimize through justification
- flattenMake level or smooth
- diminishTo make smaller
strip away · crude · naive · vulgar · greedy · eliminative · deflate · impoverish
Of first principles
- fundamentalForming the base
- basicFundamental in nature
- constituentMember of electoral district
- underlyingExisting beneath the surface
primary · foundational · elemental · primitive · building blocks · first principles · substrate · base units
Wholes trump components
- organicismUnified living systems theory
- gestaltIntegrated perceptual whole
- interactionismTheory of mutual social influence
- irreducibilityCannot be simplified further
synergy · interdependence · contextualism · vitalism · teleology
materialism
Prioritizing goods over spirit
- physicalismAll is matter
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
- atomismDiscrete particles compose everything
determinism · monism · positivism · empiricism · scientism · parsimony · naturalism · causality · ontology · epistemology
decompose
Break into simpler parts
- dissectCut open to examine
- break downFail mechanically or emotionally
- analyzeStudy by breaking down
parse · isolate · deconstruct · atomize · partition · disaggregate · fragment · separate · subdivide · distill
oversimplify
Remove essential complexity
- nothing butExclusively one thing
- explain awayMinimize through justification
- flattenMake level or smooth
diminish · strip away · crude · naive · vulgar · greedy · eliminative · deflate · impoverish
elementary
Of first principles
- fundamentalForming the base
- basicFundamental in nature
- constituentMember of electoral district
underlying · primary · foundational · elemental · primitive · building blocks · first principles · substrate · base units · atomic
holism
Wholes trump components
- organicismUnified living systems theory
- gestaltIntegrated perceptual whole
- interactionismTheory of mutual social influence
irreducibility · synergy · interdependence · contextualism · vitalism · teleology
- ismscapitalism, socialism, communism, anarchism, racism
- metaphysicsessence, being, reality, existence, substance theory
- philosophiesempiricism, stoicism, nihilism, idealism, materialism
- philosophyethics, logic, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology
- philosophy termstruth, reason, knowledge, wisdom, logic
- -ismsatomism, postmodernism, feminism, Marxism, Darwinism
reductionismholism
Wholes trump components
systems thinking · organicism · wholism · gestalt theory · contextualism