non-reductionist
|non-re-duc-tion-ist|
🇺🇸
/ˌnɑn.rɪˈdʌkʃənɪst/
🇬🇧
/ˌnɒn.rɪˈdʌkʃənɪst/
opposes reductionism
Etymology
'non-reductionist' originates from English, formed by the negative prefix 'non-' and the word 'reductionist', where 'non-' meant 'not' and 'reductionist' was built from 'reduction' + the agentive suffix '-ist'.
'reduction' comes from Latin 'reductio'/'reducere' (to bring back, lead back); it passed into Middle English as 'reduction' and later gave rise to the agent noun/adjective 'reductionist' in modern English; combining 'non-' with 'reductionist' produced 'non-reductionist' as a compound describing opposition to reductionism.
Initially the elements literally meant 'not' + 'one who practices reduction' (i.e., 'not reductionist'), and over time the compound stabilized as a label for the philosophical stance opposing reductionism, used both as an adjective and as a noun.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a person who holds a non-reductionist view; someone who rejects explaining complex phenomena solely by reference to their parts.
Many non-reductionists argue that conscious experience cannot be fully accounted for by neural processes alone.
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Adjective 1
opposing reductionism or refusing to explain complex phenomena solely by reducing them to their constituent parts; emphasizing wholes, relations, or higher-level properties.
Her theoretical approach is explicitly non-reductionist, focusing on systems and relations rather than isolated components.
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Last updated: 2025/11/04 14:41