Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun reductionism

2 senses of reductionism

Sense 1
reductionism -- (a theory that all complex systems can be completely understood in terms of their components)
       => theory -- (a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory")

Sense 2
reductionism -- (the analysis of complex things into simpler constituents)
       => analysis, analytic thinking -- (the abstract separation of a whole into its constituent parts in order to study the parts and their relations)