Of reductionism

Last updated on: August 29, 2019 at 11:58 pm by Dan Peterson

Of reductionism 2019-08-29T23:58:59-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The iconic McPolin Farmstead in Park City, Utah (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

Reductionism, the practice of analyzing and describing complex phenomena in terms of what are regarded as simpler or more fundamental phenomena, can be a contentious matter — especially when those allegedly more “basic” phenomena are said to provide a “sufficient” explanation.

For example, can Vincent Van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night be adequately described by counting the daubs of oil on the canvas and explaining their chemistry? Is Michelangelo’s David sufficently accounted for by giving its precise dimensions and the recording the composition of the stone from which it was made?

Are biological phenomena fundamentally reducible to chemical processes? And are chemical processes ultimately a matter of physics? To put it another way, are the biological sciences really rather bogus, in a sense? Isn’t that pretty much what is suggested if everything biological can be expressed in terms of chemistry? But if chemistry can be fully accounted for in terms of particle physics, doesn’t that suggest that chemistry itself is something of a phony science, concealing rather than revealing the fundamental truth?

And how far can this go? William Shakespeare was, biologically speaking, a male bipedal mammal. Does biology account for his creation of King Lear and the Sonnets? Or should we turn, instead, to chemistry? But wouldn’t that merely be mumbo jumbo, since the real explanation of Shakespeare’s work is to be sought in the interactions between atomic and sub-atomic particles in and around the immediate vicinity of his “body”?

I’m reminded, in thinking about such questions, of a challenge issued by the prominent nineteenth-century Irish physicist and defender of Darwinian evolution John Tyndall FRS (1820-1893): “Given the molecular forces in a mutton chop,” he is reported to have demanded, “deduce Hamlet or Faust therefrom.”

Here are two poetic expressions of resistance to a dehumanizing reductionism:

The first is from the American poet Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931), while the second comes from his fellow American Walt Whitman (1819-1892).

The Horrid Voice of Science

“There’s machinery in the
        butterfly;
     There’s a mainspring to the bee;
There’s hydraulics to a daisy,
     And contraptions to a tree.

“If we could see the birdie
That makes the chirping sound
With x-ray, scientific eyes,
We could see the wheels go round.”

And I hope all men
Who think like this
Will soon lie
Underground.

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with
much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

Posted from Park City, Utah

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 29, 2019

Two examples of Muslim hatred for Christian churches

Next Post

August 30, 2019 A note on scientism and reductionism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Proverbs warns against what kind of woman as a symbol of temptation?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Widow Mother-in-law Queen Adulterous woman