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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''[http://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]]
<center>For lessons on the related [[topic]] of '''''[[Materialism]]''''', follow [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Materialism '''''this link'''''].</center>
==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. 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]].
