concept

reductionism

Also known as: reductivism, reductionist, reductionist approach

Facts (30)

Sources
Self-Consciousness - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Jul 13, 2017 5 facts
referenceQuassim Cassam analyzed Kantian philosophy and reductionism in his 1989 paper 'Kant and Reductionism'.
claimSome philosophers argue that reductionism is incompatible with self-consciousness, and because humans are self-conscious, reductionism must be false.
referenceBrian Garrett published the article 'Personal Identity and Reductionism' in the journal Philosophy and Phenomenological Research in 1991.
quoteDerek Parfit identifies two prominent reductionist claims: first, that 'a person’s existence consists in the existence of a brain and body, and the occurrence of a series of interrelated physical and mental event'; and second, that '[t]hough persons exist, we could give a complete description of reality without claiming that persons exist.'
claimDerek Parfit labels a family of claims about persons that are closely related to the 'no-ownership view' as 'reductionism'.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Jul 18, 2017 4 facts
claimEmpedocles favored a reductionist account of reality based on the doctrine of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.
claimDemocritus propounded a form of reductionism where emergence is based on multi-shaped atoms interlocking to form complex shapes.
claimPanqualityists typically propose a functionalist, reductionist account of how unexperienced qualities become experienced, asserting that for a quality to be experienced, it must play a specific causal role within the cognitive capacities of an organism.
perspectivePresocratic philosophers faced a dilemma between viewing mind as an elemental feature of the world (panpsychism) or attempting to reduce mind to more fundamental elements (reductionism).
Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence? A Framework for Classifying ... arxiv.org arXiv Nov 20, 2025 2 facts
referenceDavid Chalmers' Conceivability and Scrutability arguments are notable contributions to the reductionism versus emergentism debate regarding the nature of consciousness.
referenceFrank Jackson's Mary argument is a notable contribution to the reductionism versus emergentism debate regarding the nature of consciousness.
The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Springer Nature Link link.springer.com Springer 2 facts
claimThomas Nagel suggested that "objective phenomenology" might overcome the limitations of reductionism regarding the mind-body problem.
claimvon Stillfried (2018) argues that a logical implication of the existence of one ontic category by another does not necessarily imply that the one must supervene on the other, meaning logical entailment of the phenomenal by the physical does not automatically equal reductionism or physicalism.
4.5 Consciousness – Cognitive Psychology nmoer.pressbooks.pub Pressbooks 2 facts
claimNed Block holds a reductionist (physical) approach to the debate regarding the relationship between consciousness and the physical universe.
claimReductionist views of consciousness argue that mental phenomena can be explained through descriptions of physical phenomena.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu William Seager, Sean Allen-Hermanson · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy May 23, 2001 2 facts
claimThomas Nagel's denial of reductionism leads to the conclusion that mind must be associated with matter in its most fundamental forms, because enminded systems can be constructed from any matter.
perspectivePanpsychism is a philosophical perspective that rejects physicalist reductionism while simultaneously supporting the search for neural correlates of consciousness.
Do all non-physicalist theories of consciousness face the interaction ... philosophy.stackexchange.com Stack Exchange Nov 17, 2025 2 facts
perspectivePapineau's inference regarding reductionism is fallacious because it asserts a universal principle based on only two successes, which is an example of extrapolating a generality far beyond the available data.
perspectiveMcLaughlin's argument regarding reductionism is reasonable because two dramatic successes of reductionism in areas where emergentists previously thought reduction was impossible would significantly challenge the validity of emergentism.
Understanding LLM Understanding skywritingspress.ca Skywritings Press Jun 14, 2024 1 fact
claimHolger Lyre has conducted research on the foundations of quantum theory, gauge symmetries, structural realism, semantic externalism, the extended mind, reductionism, and structural models of the mind.
Evolutionary psychology - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 1 fact
referenceMarc H. V. Van Regenmortel and David L. Hull published 'Promises and Limits of Reductionism in the Biomedical Sciences' in 2003.
Hard problem of consciousness - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 1 fact
claimThomas Nagel argued that because experiences are subjective and physical states are objective, it is unclear what it means to claim that a felt state is identical to a functional state, making the concept of reductivism difficult to understand.
(PDF) Unifying Theories of Consciousness, Attention, and ... academia.edu Academia.edu 1 fact
referenceKoch, C. (2012) explores consciousness in the book 'Consciousness: Confessions of a romantic reductionist' published by MIT Press.
Moving Forward on the Problem of Consciousness - David Chalmers consc.net Journal of Consciousness Studies 1 fact
claimDavid Chalmers argues that Daniel Dennett's reductive accounts of phenomena like 'cuteness' and 'perception' fail to support reductionism about experience because they either lack plausibility or rely on experiential properties that reductive accounts omit.
PANPSYCHISM (Philosophy of Mind Series) - Amazon.com amazon.com Amazon 1 fact
claimThomas Nagel argued in 1979 that if reductionism and dualism fail, and a non-reductionist form of strong emergence cannot be made intelligible, then panpsychism—the thesis that mental being is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of the universe—might be a viable alternative.
Self-Consciousness - Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science oecs.mit.edu MIT Press Jul 24, 2024 1 fact
referenceDerek Parfit defended reductionism about the self in his 1984 work, though this remains an unpopular view among philosophers.
Quantum Approaches to Consciousness plato.stanford.edu Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Nov 30, 2004 1 fact
perspectiveHans Flohr's approach to consciousness is physicalistic and reductionistic, but it is entirely independent of any specific quantum ideas.
David Chalmers Thinks the Hard Problem Is Really Hard scientificamerican.com Scientific American Apr 10, 2017 1 fact
accountDavid Chalmers's father is a medical researcher and a reductionist, while his mother is a spiritual thinker and a non-reductionist.
The New Field of Network Physiology: Building the Human ... frontiersin.org Frontiers 1 fact
claimThe introduction of concepts and methods from statistical physics and network theory to biology and medicine has shifted the research paradigm from reductionism to an integrative framework.
Hard Problem of Consciousness | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy 1 fact
claimReductionism is the idea that complex phenomena can be explained in terms of the arrangement and functioning of simpler, better understood parts.