Pluralism is often put forth as a counter-position to reductionism. In this essay, I argue that reductionism and pluralism are in fact consistent. I propose that there are several potential goals for reductions and that the proper form of a reduction should be considered in tandem with the goal that it aims to achieve. This insight provides a basis for clarifying what version(s) of reductionism...

Introduction Uses Determination Technological Determination Social Determination Towards Non-Reductionist Research Footnotes Acknowledgments References About the Author

Jerry Fodor has argued that the multiple realizability argument, as discussed in his original “Special Sciences” article, “refutes psychophysical reductionism once and for all.” I argue that his argument in “Special Sciences” does no such thing. Furthermore, if one endorses the physicalism that most supporters of the “Special Sciences” view endorse, special science laws must be reducible, in pr...

The juxtaposition of the notions of citizenship and the idea of republicanism in the context of Australia as a multicultural nation immediately raises the difficult and critical question of what we mean by a 'nation', and equally, what constitutes the sense of Australian identity. In the time allocated to me, I can hardly do justice to this challenging and most intriguing question, except to pa...

In this paper I examine Herodotus’s use of oppositional writing in the Histories as it relates to Hellenic identity in the 5th century BCE. As Greece was divided socially, politically, and linguistically, the presence of Hellenic identity at that time is questionable. Through literary analysis I determine the characteristics of antitheses and identify various cultural oppositions as either impl...