A Study of the Historical Background of Reductionism

Reductionism has been so prevalent in contemporary philosophy in certain fields such as the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of mind that some have called our time the period of reductionism. The naive form of the idea of reduction which is expressed as the very “A is nothing but B” has appeared in so many diverse forms and models since the second half of the 20th century that its primary form can be hardly observed today. In this study, the writer aims to investigate the historical background of reductionism as an idea. In doing so, he initially provides a brief historical-logical account of the background of this idea since the second half of the 20th century onwards. In the second part of the paper, he begins his discussion with the philosophy of ancient Greece. Then he brings it to an end through referring to the analysis of this idea by the members of the Vienna Circle and connecting it to the point at which he began the first part of the paper, i.e. the second half of the 20th century.