NDLI: Reductionism as a Research Directive

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Lausen, Fabian
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	In this paper, I explore the possibilities for arriving at a useful conception of methodological reductionism. Some participants in the debate talk about methodological reductionism as a research program. I argue that the concept of a research program, at least in Lakatos’ sense, cannot account for the diverse nature of methodological reductionism. I then present my own concept of a research directive as a useful alternative and elaborate on this by drawing on Hasok Chang’s theory of ontological principles and epistemic activities. According to my view, the reductionist research directive can be characterized as consisting of the principles fundamental ontological homogeneity, part-whole asymmetry, and orderliness, together with the corresponding activities construction of identities, decomposition, and unification. I suggest that looking at reductionism in this way enables us to understand it as a gradual concept and thus go beyond the simplistic yes-or-no-questions that dominate many current debates on this topic.
Starting Page	263
Ending Page	279
Page Count	17
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09254560
Journal	Journal for General Philosophy of Science
Volume Number	45
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	15728587
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2014-07-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Reductionism Lakatos Unification Decomposition Epistemic activities Philosophy of Science History Philosophy of Education Methodology of the Social Sciences Social Sciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy Social Sciences History and Philosophy of Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Technology and Epistemic Possibility

Explaining Same-Sex Sexual Behavior: The Stagnation of the Genetic and Evolutionary Research Programs

Pragmatic Unification, Observation and Realism in Astroparticle Physics

Unification and Revolution: A Paradigm for Paradigms

The Constraint Interpretation of Physical Emergence

How Much Philosophy in the Philosophy of Chemistry?

Normative Rechnungslegungsforschung im Abseits? Einige wissenschaftstheoretische Anmerkungen

Of ‘Listenwissenschaft’ and ‘Epistemic Things’. Conceptual Approaches to Ancient Mesopotamian Epistemic Practices

Reduction and the Neighbourhood of Theories: A New Approach to the Intertheoretic Relations in Physics

Reductionism as a Research Directive

Similar Documents

Technology and Epistemic Possibility

Explaining Same-Sex Sexual Behavior: The Stagnation of the Genetic and Evolutionary Research Programs

Pragmatic Unification, Observation and Realism in Astroparticle Physics

Unification and Revolution: A Paradigm for Paradigms

The Constraint Interpretation of Physical Emergence

How Much Philosophy in the Philosophy of Chemistry?

Normative Rechnungslegungsforschung im Abseits? Einige wissenschaftstheoretische Anmerkungen

Of ‘Listenwissenschaft’ and ‘Epistemic Things’. Conceptual Approaches to Ancient Mesopotamian Epistemic Practices

Reduction and the Neighbourhood of Theories: A New Approach to the Intertheoretic Relations in Physics

Reductionism as a Research Directive