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PubMed · 9653713

Reductionism in physical sciences.

R J Williams
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Abstract

The idea of reductionism in physical sciences is that all physicochemical observables can be described in terms of a limited number of particles and their variable energies. Here we limit ourselves to atomic descriptions showing how very successful reductionism is in treating equilibrium systems. This includes all properties of single molecules, even DNA, and can be extended to dynamic assemblies of molecules through the variables composition, potential energies, kinetic energies (temperature) and volume (pressure). This description includes the capacity of a system to change, to do work. It does not include working or changing systems when we have to consider time-dependent variables such as directed motion, flow. Analysis of such accidentally or purposefully directed activity seems, to the author, to be outside the above reductionist analysis in that its feature is organization around a 'plan' or a 'cycle'. Thus reductionism fails to describe machines, man-made or biological, in that the parts are arranged, even dedicated, to a total function.

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R J Williams. 1998. Reductionism in physical sciences.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9653713/

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