Changes

==Origin==

==Origin==

Reduction - Middle French reduction, redduction, redduccion, French réduction [[action]] of coming closer, coming [[together]] (c1290 in Old French as redution), restoration to a previous state, re-[[establishment]] (1300)

Reduction - Middle French reduction, redduction, redduccion, French réduction [[action]] of coming closer, coming [[together]] (c1290 in Old French as redution), restoration to a previous state, re-[[establishment]] (1300)

*Reduction-''ism''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943 1943]

*Reduction-''ism''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943 1943]

==Definitions==

==Definitions==

*1: [[explanation]] of [[complex]] life-[[science]] [[processes]] and [[phenomena]] in terms of the [[laws]] of [[physics]] and [[chemistry]]; also : a [[theory]] or [[doctrine]] that complete reductionism is possible

*1: [[explanation]] of [[complex]] life-[[science]] [[processes]] and [[phenomena]] in terms of the [[laws]] of [[physics]] and [[chemistry]]; also : a [[theory]] or [[doctrine]] that complete reductionism is possible

*2: a [[procedure]] or [[theory]] that reduces [[complex]] [[data]] and phenomena to [[simple]] [[terms]]  

*2: a [[procedure]] or [[theory]] that reduces [[complex]] [[data]] and phenomena to [[simple]] [[terms]]

==Description==

==Description==

'''Reductionism''' can mean either (a) an approach to [[understanding]] the [[nature]] of [[complex]] things by reducing them to the [[interactions]] of their [[parts]], or to [[simpler]] or more fundamental [[things]] or (b) a [[philosophical]] position 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.[1] This can be said of objects, [[phenomena]], [[explanations]], theories, and [[meanings]].

'''Reductionism''' can mean either (a) an approach to [[understanding]] the [[nature]] of [[complex]] things by reducing them to the [[interactions]] of their [[parts]], or to [[simpler]] or more fundamental [[things]] or (b) a [[philosophical]] position 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. This can be said of objects, [[phenomena]], [[explanations]], theories, and [[meanings]].

Reductionism strongly [[reflects]] a certain [[perspective]] on [[causality]]. In a reductionist [[framework]], [[phenomena]] that can be explained completely in [[terms]] of [[relations]] between other more fundamental [[phenomena]], are called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphenomena epiphenomena]. Often there is an implication that the epiphenomenon exerts no [[causal]] [[agency]] on the [[fundamental]] [[phenomena]] that [[explain]] it.

Reductionism strongly [[reflects]] a certain [[perspective]] on [[causality]]. In a reductionist [[framework]], [[phenomena]] that can be explained completely in [[terms]] of [[relations]] between other more fundamental [[phenomena]], are called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphenomena epiphenomena]. Often there is an implication that the epiphenomenon exerts no [[causal]] [[agency]] on the [[fundamental]] [[phenomena]] that [[explain]] it.

Reductionism does not preclude the [[existence]] of what might be called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence emergent phenomena], but it does imply the [[ability]] to [[understand]] those [[phenomena]] completely in terms of the [[processes]] from which they are [[composed]]. This reductionist [[understanding]] is very [[different]] from that usually implied by the [[term]] 'emergence', which typically [[intends]] that what emerges is more than the [[sum]] of the [[processes]] from which it emerges.

Reductionism does not preclude the [[existence]] of what might be called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence emergent phenomena], but it does imply the [[ability]] to [[understand]] those [[phenomena]] completely in terms of the [[processes]] from which they are [[composed]]. This reductionist [[understanding]] is very [[different]] from that usually implied by the [[term]] 'emergence', which typically [[intends]] that what emerges is more than the [[sum]] of the [[processes]] from which it emerges.

[[Religious]] reductionism generally consists of [[explaining]] religion by boiling it down to certain [[Material|nonreligious]] [[causes]]. A few examples of reductionistic attempts to [[explain]] the [[presence]] of [[religion]] are: the view that religion, could be reduced to [[humanity]]’s [[conceptions]] of [[Morality|right and wrong]]; the [[belief]] that [[religion]] is fundamentally a [[primitive]] attempt at [[controlling]] our [[environments]]; or in the opinion of religion, as a way to [[explain]] the [[existence]] of a [[physical]] world. Typical religious reductionists are such [[theorists]] as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burnett_Tylor Edward Burnett Tylor] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Frazer James Frazer]. [[Sigmund Freud]]'s [[idea]] that [[religion]] is nothing more than an [[illusion]], or even a mental illness, and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism Marxist] view that [[religion]] is "the sigh of the [[oppressed]]," providing only "the [[illusory]] [[happiness]] of [[the people]]," are two other [[influential]] reductionist [[explanations]] of religion.

[[Religious]] reductionism generally consists of [[explaining]] religion by boiling it down to certain [[Material|nonreligious]] [[causes]]. A few examples of reductionistic attempts to [[explain]] the [[presence]] of [[religion]] are: the view that religion, could be reduced to [[humanity]]’s [[conceptions]] of [[Morality|right and wrong]]; the [[belief]] that [[religion]] is fundamentally a [[primitive]] attempt at [[controlling]] our [[environments]]; or in the opinion of religion, as a way to [[explain]] the [[existence]] of a [[physical]] world. Typical religious reductionists are such [[theorists]] as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burnett_Tylor Edward Burnett Tylor] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Frazer James Frazer]. [[Sigmund Freud]]'s [[idea]] that [[religion]] is nothing more than an [[illusion]], or even a mental illness, and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism Marxist] view that [[religion]] is "the sigh of the [[oppressed]]," providing only "the [[illusory]] [[happiness]] of [[the people]]," are two other [[influential]] reductionist [[explanations]] of religion.

 

==See also==

==See also==

*'''''[[Materialism]]'''''

*'''''[[Materialism]]'''''