reductionism

English

Etymology

reduction +‎ -ism

Noun

reductionism (countable and uncountable, plural reductionisms)

1. An approach to studying complex systems or ideas by reducing them to a set of simpler components.
2. (philosophy) 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".

Related terms

• reductionist

Translations

approach of studying complex systems

• Czech: redukcionismus m
• Finnish: reduktionismi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: réductionnisme (fr) m
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} smættarhyggja f, ^{(please verify)} smættarkenning f, ^{(please verify)} smættunarkenning f

(philosophy) theory holding that complex systems can be reduced to simpler components

• Armenian: ռեդուկցիոնիզմ (hy) (ṙedukcʻionizm)
• Finnish: reduktionismi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: réductionnisme (fr) m

See also

• holism