On the Success and Limitations of Reductionism in Physics

Formalization of Cognition Process as an Additional Component Responsible for Development of Theoretical Physics

“…However, application to inferring in direction to new description is not appropriate since such an inferring should not depend on our current technical capabilities for measurement. 9 Remarks on reductionism and emergence Reductionism and emergence are notions which are frequently applied in philosophy of physics and philosophy in general [12], [13]. In particular one estimates that contemporary theoretical physics has success based on methodological reductionism.…”

“…In particular one estimates that contemporary theoretical physics has success based on methodological reductionism. It means the attempt to reduce explanations to smaller constituents and to explain phenomena completely in terms of interactions between fundamental entities [13]. Theoretical reductionism is considered within the methodological reductionism, wherein one theory with limited predictive power can be obtained as a limiting case of another theory [13].…”

“…Emergence is understood as involving new, sometimes novel properties of a whole that are not shared by its isolated parts [13]. Problems of emergence in physics are discussed frequently in literature.…”

Complex microbial systems across different levels of description

“…From a reductionist perspective, all phenomena can be reduced to more fundamental constituents. In both physics and biology, this ultimately corresponds to explaining everything from fundamental particles or molecules and their interactions [2,3]. In turn, this reductionist perspective includes the idea of 'upward causation' in which the lower level constituents generate higher level states [3].…”

“…Such symmetry breaking often accompanies emergent phenomena such as super-conductivity or super-fluidity [4][5][6]. In biology, emergent phenomena are among others life itself as the transition from inanimate to living matter [2], or as a more concrete example the collective migration of independently non-migrating organisms (figure 1(D)) [7,8]. Although not considered a source for emergence in physical systems [6], stochasticity due to small constituent numbers and the related fluctuations can play an important role for emergence of bistable states in deterministically monostable biological systems [9][10][11][12].…”