more on this theme     |     more from this thinker     |     more from this text


Single Idea 6550

[filed under theme 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 2. Reduction ]

Full Idea

The 'Principle of Reducibility' says if an object is a system of objects, then every property of the object must consist in the fact that its constituents have such and such qualities and such and such relations

Gist of Idea

Reduction requires that an object's properties consist of its constituents' properties and relations

Source

Wilfrid Sellars (Philosophy and Scientific Image of Man [1962], p.27), quoted by William Lycan - Consciousness

Book Ref

Lycan,William G.: 'Consciousness' [MIT 1995], p.95


A Reaction

This sounds to me a more promising attitude to reduction than all this talk of Ernest Nagel's 'Bridge Laws'. If we ask HOW a higher level property arises because of a lower level property, we can describe a mechanism rather than a law.