In a rich and provocative paper, Jaegwon Kim offers an ingenious argument for psychophysical reductionism. I take Kim to be posing a dilemma for anyone who would deny reductionism, viz. that one must either advocate the wholesale reduction of psychology to physical science or one must advocate the sundering of psychology into distinct fields, each one of which is reducible to physical science. ...

Molecular reductionism has so far failed to deliver the broad-based therapeutic insights that were initially hoped for. This form of reductionism is now being replaced by so-called "systems biology." This is a nebulously defined approach and/or discipline, with some versions of it relying excessively on hypothesis-neutral approaches and only minimally informed by key physiological concepts such...

Methodological reductionists practice ‘wannabe reductionism’. They claim that one should pursue reductionism, but never propose how. I integrate two strains in prior work to do so. Three kinds of activities are pursued as “reductionist”. “Successional reduction” and inter-level mechanistic explanation are legitimate and powerful strategies. Eliminativism is generally ill-conceived. Specific pro...

In the contemporary life sciences more and more researchers emphasize the "limits of reductionism" (e.g. Ahn et al. 2006a, 709; Mazzocchi 2008, 10) or they call for a move "beyond reductionism" (Gallagher/Appenzeller 1999, 79). However, it is far from clear what exactly they argue for and what the envisioned limits of reductionism are. In this paper I claim that the current discussions about re...

Joyner MJ. Giant sucking sound: can physiology fill the intellectual void left by the reductionists?. J Appl Physiol 111: 335–342, 2011. First published June 2, 2011; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00565.2011.—Molecular reductionism has so far failed to deliver the broad-based therapeutic insights that were initially hoped for. This form of reductionism is now being replaced by so-called “systems bio...

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...