Nonreductive physics

Mariam Thalos

pp. 133-178

in: Synthese 149 (1), 2006.

Abstract

This paper documents a wide range of nonreductive scientific treatments of phenomena in the domain of physics. These treatments strongly resist characterization as explanations of macrobehavior exclusively in terms of behavior of microconstituents. For they are treatments in which macroquantities are cast in the role of genuine and irreducible degrees of freedom.