reductionism
noun
re·duc·tion·ism ri-ˈdək-shə-ˌni-zəm 
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
reductionist
ri-ˈdək-sh(ə-)nist
noun or adjective reductionistic
ri-ˌdək-shə-ˈni-stik
adjective 
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Passages like this one, which directly contradict their characterization of the book’s alleged determinism, reductionism, and essentialism, are easy to find! 
Jessica Riskin, The New York Review of Books, 21 Apr. 2022 Big stuff consists of smaller, more fundamental stuff — an idea known as reductionism. Quanta Magazine, 1 Mar. 2022 The strategy to confine the outbreak in the U.S. was based on biomedical reductionism, which reduces infectious diseases to their biological, chemical, and physical aspects. Judith D. Auerbach And Andrew D. Forsyth, STAT, 10 Mar. 2022 In a slew of recent papers, researchers have thrown reductionism to the wind. Quanta Magazine, 1 Mar. 2022 Kruger’s epigrams differ from other forms of reductionism, including the journalistic sound bite and the political slogan. Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2021 But Barzun’s short anatomy of Marx and Marxism, quietly devastating, is permanently worth reading for its clear understanding and lucid explanation of the self-contradictory and damaging character of Marxism and all forms of reductionism. M. D. Aeschliman, National Review, 30 May 2021 Race reductionism is also fundamentally corrosive to more focused efforts to reckon with this new era of inequality, thanks to its constitutional failure to recognize change and the workings of historical processes, both on and among black people. Adolph Reed Jr., The New Republic, 17 Feb. 2021 Indeed, the unitary constructs of race reductionism themselves originate from historically specific sources. Adolph Reed Jr., The New Republic, 17 Feb. 2021 See More
Jessica Riskin, The New York Review of Books, 21 Apr. 2022 Big stuff consists of smaller, more fundamental stuff — an idea known as reductionism. Quanta Magazine, 1 Mar. 2022 The strategy to confine the outbreak in the U.S. was based on biomedical reductionism, which reduces infectious diseases to their biological, chemical, and physical aspects. Judith D. Auerbach And Andrew D. Forsyth, STAT, 10 Mar. 2022 In a slew of recent papers, researchers have thrown reductionism to the wind. Quanta Magazine, 1 Mar. 2022 Kruger’s epigrams differ from other forms of reductionism, including the journalistic sound bite and the political slogan. Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2021 But Barzun’s short anatomy of Marx and Marxism, quietly devastating, is permanently worth reading for its clear understanding and lucid explanation of the self-contradictory and damaging character of Marxism and all forms of reductionism. M. D. Aeschliman, National Review, 30 May 2021 Race reductionism is also fundamentally corrosive to more focused efforts to reckon with this new era of inequality, thanks to its constitutional failure to recognize change and the workings of historical processes, both on and among black people. Adolph Reed Jr., The New Republic, 17 Feb. 2021 Indeed, the unitary constructs of race reductionism themselves originate from historically specific sources. Adolph Reed Jr., The New Republic, 17 Feb. 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1925, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Medical Definition
reductionism
noun
re·duc·tion·ism ri-ˈdək-shə-ˌniz-əm
1
: the attempt to explain all biological processes by the same explanations (as by physical laws) that chemists and physicists use to interpret inanimate matter
also : the theory that complete reductionism is possible
2
: a procedure or theory that reduces complex data or phenomena to simple terms