Reduction (philosophy)

Reduction is the process by which one object, property, concept, theory, etc., is shown to be entirely dispensable in favor of another. For example, we say that chemical properties such as the boiling point of a substance are reducible to that substance’s atomic properties, because we are able to explain why a liquid boils at a certain temperature using only the properties of its constituent atoms. Thus we might also describe reduction as a process analogous to absorption, by which one theory (or concept, or property, and so on) is wholly subsumed under another.

Related Topics:
Chemical - Boiling point - Atomic - Absorption

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In science, such reduction is generally desirable, because it explains why and how the thing which is being reduced exists, and because it promotes conceptual and theoretical economy. Reducing chemical properties to properties of atoms thus explains why certain substances have the chemical properties that they do, and integrates these properties into a single explanatory framework, that of atomic structure.

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We can usefully divide reductionism (the position) into three general areas – methodological, theoretical, and ontological – and reduction (the process) into two – theoretical and ontological.

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