reductionism

American  

[ri-duhk-shuh-niz-uhm] / rɪˈdʌk ʃəˌnɪz əm /

noun

1. the theory that every complex phenomenon, especially in biology or psychology, can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation during the phenomenon.

2. the practice of simplifying a complex idea, issue, condition, or the like, especially to the point of minimizing, obscuring, or distorting it.

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reductionism British  

/ rɪˈdʌkʃəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. the analysis of complex things, data, etc, into less complex constituents

2. derogatory any theory or method that holds that a complex idea, system, etc, can be completely understood in terms of its simpler parts or components

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Other Word Forms

• reductionist noun
• reductionistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of reductionism

First recorded in 1940–45; reduction + -ism

Explanation

Reductionism is the act of oversimplifying an issue, breaking it down into small parts that don't reflect how complex it actually is. Political scientists might accuse journalists of reductionism when they briefly sum up a complicated topic. You might come across the term reductionism in a philosophy class — in this context, any scientific theory, object, or meaning can be reduced to its individual parts. If you understand these smaller components, you will understand the larger concept. A more derogatory way to use the word is to accuse someone of trying to make something too simple through reductionism. Someone who tends to do this is known as a reductionist.

Example Sentences

"The risk is reductionism down to genetics," he says, when there are so many other factors to consider.

From BBC • Nov. 14, 2025

I argue that we can account for the evolution of consciousness only if we reject reductionism about consciousness.

From Scientific American • Nov. 7, 2023

Comparing the two might be condemned as crass reductionism.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 4, 2022

Yet seeing crickets as salvation requires a distinctly 20th-century set of trifocals: nutritional reductionism, consumer activism, and Western culinary exceptionalism.

From Slate • Feb. 26, 2022

There it sat, occupying important intellectual ground, at just the time when entomology was emerging as an experimental science of considerable power, capable of solving matters of intricate detail, a paradigm of the new reductionism.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas