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The Concept of Reduction (Paperback, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2014)
Loot Price: R2,193
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The Concept of Reduction (Paperback, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2014)
Series: Philosophical Studies Series, 121
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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This volume investigates the notion of reduction. Building on the
idea that philosophers� employ the term ‘reduction’ to
reconcile diversity and directionality with unity, without relying
on elimination, the book offers a powerful explication of an
“ontological”, notion of reduction the extension of which is
(primarily) formed by properties, kinds, individuals, or processes.
It argues that related notions of reduction, such as
theory-reduction and functional reduction, should be defined in
terms of this explication. Thereby, the book offers a coherent
framework, which sheds light on the history of the various
reduction debates in the philosophy of science and in the
philosophy of mind, and on related topics such as reduction and
unification, the notion of a scientific level, and physicalism. The
book takes its point of departure in the examination of a puzzle
about reduction. To illustrate, the book takes as an example the
reduction of water. If water reduces to H2O, then water is
identical to H2O – thus we get unity. Unity does not come at the
price of elimination – claiming that water reduces to H2O, we do
not thereby claim that there is no water. But what about diversity
and directionality? Intuitively, there should be a difference
between water and H2O, such that we get diversity. This is required
for there to be directionality: in a sense, if water reduces to
H2O, then H2O is prior to, or more basic than water. At least, if
water reduces to H2O, then H2O does not reduce to water. But how
can this be, if water is identical to H2O? The book shows that the
application of current models of reduction does not solve this
puzzle, and proposes a new coherent definition, according to which
unity is tied to identity, diversity is descriptive in nature, and
directionality is the directionality of explanation.
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