What is an example of reductionism?

Thus, the ideas that physical bodies are collections of atoms or that a given mental state (e.g., one person’s belief that snow is white) is identical to a particular physical state (the firing of certain neurons in that person’s brain) are examples of reductionism.

What does reductionism mean?

Definition of reductionism 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.

What is reductionism in social research?

Broadly speaking, ‘reductionism’ is used in philosophy to refer to doctrines according to which one can explain some object by reducing it to a different, usually more simple, level – for example, the meaningful to the physical as in behaviourism, knowledge to sense data as in phenomenalism, the social to the …

What is the reductionist theory?

Reductionism is an approach that is used in many disciplines, including psychology, that is centered on the belief that we can best explain something by breaking it down into its individual parts.

What is the problem with reductionism?

Reductionism can run the risk of distorting the bigger problem because the individual parts either were not meant to be separately analyzed or those parts get overgeneralized which creates gaps in the whole problem, the essence of Aristotle’s words.

What is reductionism quizlet?

Reductionism. the practice of analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon, esp. a mental, social, or biological phenomenon, in terms of phenomena that are held to represent a simpler or more fundamental level, esp. when this is said to provide a sufficient explanation. Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle.

What is reductionism in anthropology?

Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena, which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical position that interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts.

Is Durkheim a reductionist?

Emile Durkheim : A Reductionist Approach To Religion.

Is the humanistic approach reductionist?

Humanistic, or third force psychologists, feel that holism is the only valid approach to the complete understanding of mind and behavior. They reject reductionism in all its forms. Their starting point is the self (our sense of personal identity) which they consider as a functioning whole.

Which is a characteristic of reductionism?

Reductionism as a research strategy has at least three main characteristics: quantification, a linear-serial way of proceeding, and a deductive and analytical way of reasoning (Verschuren, 2001).