'''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''' 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]]. |