Physicist Steven Weinberg on Why Reductionism Isn’t a Bogeyman

Physicist Steven Weinberg was a rare example of a scientist who actually discussed reductionism in philosophical terms. That’s fairly strange because this is a contentious issue which is usually only discussed by philosophers and (relevantly enough) the critics of science. Weinberg’s central point was that physics — and perhaps much of science generally — has always been (at least in broad outline) reductionist. What’s more, many of those who criticise reductionism are actually criticising science itself. However, they artfully mask over that fact by overusing the word “reductionism” (as well as the words “materialism” and “scientism”).

(i) Introduction
(ii) Steven Weinberg Defends Reductionism
(iii) In Praise of Reductionism
(iv) Grand and Petty Reductionism
(v) Einstein and Grand Reductionism
(vi) Weinberg’s (Mild?) Reductionism About Chemistry
(vii) The Complete Autonomy of All the Sciences?
(viii) The Autonomy of the Special Sciences?

In a YouTube video called ‘What is Reductionism?’, the theoretical physicist and science communicator Sabine Hossenfelder describes reductionism in the following way: