reductionist

[ri-duhk-shuh-nist]

adjective

1. based on or explained by an analysis of the simplest or most basic factors of a complex phenomenon.

   A reductionist experiment is essential to isolating the impact of a single variable on the ecosystem as a whole.

2. simplistic to the point of minimizing, obscuring, or distorting a complex idea, issue, or condition.

   Both stories describe the same reality, but your reductionist version fails to capture the full truth.

noun

1. a person who believes that everything can be explained by reducing complex ideas or issues to their simplest component parts.

   To reductionists, all other worldviews are unscientific and sloppy, so they often choose to ignore evidence from observational studies.

Other Word Forms

• reductionistic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of reductionist¹

reduction ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Example Sentences

"He wanted somebody whose mind wasn't messed up by the reductionist attitude of science to animals," she said.

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Meanwhile, harm reductionists pledge to continue even with dwindling resources.

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Her supervisor and mentor, Professor Louis Leakey, though, saw the value in her technique: “He wanted somebody whose mind wasn't messed up by the reductionist attitude of science to animals,” Dr Goodall explains.

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As this whale of an example suggests, the reductionist framework has profound consequences.

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Some challenges have lately emerged to this reductionist paradigm.

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