| 释义 |
reductionism|rɪˈdʌkʃənɪz(ə)m|
[f. reduction + -ism.]
In philosophy, the practice of trying to show that certain entities may be eliminated by reducing all reference to them to reference to some other entities. In more general use, the practice of describing a phenomenon (particularly one involving human thought and action) in terms of an apparently more ‘basic’ or ‘primitive’ phenomenon, to which the first is then said to be equivalent; for example, the practices of describing mental states in terms of the behaviour that expresses them, of describing organic processes in terms of the physico-chemical reactions which underly them, of describing social and political transformations in terms of the economic changes which engender them. In each case it is supposed that ‘reduction’ both explains, and also simplifies; ‘reductionism’ is therefore often used as a term of abuse for those theories which simplify too much, by reducing one phenomenon to another that is too basic to explain it.
1948A. L. Kroeber Anthropol. (rev. ed.) xv. 576 The whole problem of the double aspect of our phenomena can also be seen as hingeing on how far we wish..to carry or not to carry what might be called intellectual reductionism. 1952R. M. Hare Lang. Morals 180 Nor am I committing the sin of ‘reductionism’ which, because of its excessive prevalence, has become a fashionable target for philosophical heresy-hunters. 1953W. V. Quine From Logical Point of View 20 The other dogma is reductionism: the belief that each meaningful statement is equivalent to some logical construct upon terms which refer to immediate experience. 1960B. G. Andreas Exper. Psychol. viii. 212 In theory construction reductionism refers to the use of constants and laws from one scientific discipline to explain the relationship found in another realm of investigation. 1965Jrnl. Politics XXVII. 783 Reductionism. In its belief that every major irritation in society has a simple cause, a simple explanation and a simple solution, the radical right reduces such irritations to Communism. 1969Daily Tel. 1 Nov. 7/7 It [sc. the minute dissection of music's anatomical structure] can easily succumb to the kind of ‘reductionism’ which..claims that any organism can be fully explained by a careful analysis of its smallest components. 1969Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Nov. 1341/1 Reductionism..assumes that all properties of organisms..are ultimately reducible to physics and chemistry. 1971R. F. Murphy Dialectics of Social Life (1972) ii. 68 Durkheim..directed his critique against theories that sought to reduce social explanation to areas of psychology and biology that were not known at the time... Such ‘reductionism’ to the unknown is indeed a shallow gambit. 1976Nature 3 June 439/1 Reductionism rests on the belief that the whole can be fully explained in terms of the parts. 1979Bull. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Apr. 20 What would be needed instead is what I once heard Etienne Gilson describe as a dogmatic basis for dogmatic tolerance. For that we must go beyond the reductionism that has shaped all of us to a historical awareness of the deepest issues that have divided the two communities. 1981Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Feb. 137/4 Structuralism..has offered certain threats to reductionism. |