Reductionist theory

Reductionist theory is the idea that complex phenomena can be understood by examining their simpler parts. Essentially, it suggests that to fully understand something, like a living organism or a psychological process, we can break it down into smaller components—such as cells or neural signals—and study those parts individually. This approach assumes the behavior of the whole can be explained by the properties of its parts. While powerful, it sometimes overlooks how interactions between parts create emergent properties, which means the whole may behave differently than just the sum of its parts.