Science in the 20th century
In Our Time: Science
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What Is Your Great Worry About the Reductionist Tendency of Science?
Mary Yoyou says she has a great worry about the reductionist tendency of science. The idea that you can explain the working of any whole by taking it o pieces will always explain ar what's going on in the whole is often linked with the machine image, as though one were putting together the cogs er. Mary: I think it is perfectly clear that explanation in isn't always done by cutting things. If a biologist is presented with a leaf, he doesn't only does he cut it, up, boil it down, put it under the microscope. He also asks, on what tree, in what forest, in what climate, on what soil, in what ecosystem? An this
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