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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Philosophy of science
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Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality - The Importance of Being Borderline (Paperback, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2014)
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Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality - The Importance of Being Borderline (Paperback, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2014)
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Scientists have always attempted to explain the world in terms of a
few unifying principles. In the fifth century B.C. Democritus
boldly claimed that reality is simply a collection of indivisible
and eternal parts or atoms. Over the centuries his doctrine has
remained a landmark, and much progress in physics is due to its
distinction between subjective perception and objective reality.
This book discusses theory reduction in physics, which states that
the whole is nothing more than the sum of its parts: the properties
of things are directly determined by their constituent parts.
Reductionism deals with the relation between different theories
that address different levels of reality, and uses extrapolations
to apply that relation in different sciences. Reality shows a
complex structure of connections, and the dream of a unified
interpretation of all phenomena in several simple laws continues to
attract anyone with genuine philosophical and scientific interests.
If the most radical reductionist point of view is correct, the
relationship between disciplines is strictly inclusive: chemistry
becomes physics, biology becomes chemistry, and so on. Eventually,
only one science, indeed just a single theory, would survive, with
all others merging in the Theory of Everything. Is the current
coexistence of different sciences a mere historical venture which
will end when the Theory of Everything has been established? Can
there be a unified description of nature? Rather than an analysis
of full reductionism, this book focuses on aspects of theory
reduction in physics and stimulates reflection on related
questions: is there any evidence of actual reduction? Are the
examples used in the philosophy of science too simplistic? What has
been endangered by the search for (the) ultimate truth? Has the
dream of reductionist reason created any monsters? Is big science
one such monster? What is the point of embedding science Y within
science X, if predictions cannot be made on that basis?
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