...Strengths | Weaknesses | Free Will vs Determinism | The determinist view beileves that all behaviour is determined and therefore predictable. Whereas the free will view believes that people have the power to make their own choices, there fore making behaviour self determined. | Determinism - A deterministic approach is more scientific. It isolates a variable and tries to examine this scientifically therefore increasing validity - Knowing what factors determine a particular behaviour can be extremely useful with practical applications such as genetic malification | Determinism - Determinist views discount individual differences- It is possible to chose some of our behaviours as we choose to respond in a certain way | Reductionism vs Holism | Reductionism is the belief that behaviour can be explain buy splitting and sectioning behaviours, sometimes over simplifying the human brain. Holism on the over hand accepts behaviour can be explained through the use of combinations of psychological aprroaches and debates | Reductionist- By focusing on one thing we can clearly see a cause and effect - It is possible to build up an increasingly complete explanation of psychological phenomena | Reductionist - It is possible to miss out other factors decreasing validity - Reductionist approach is invariably linked with the experimental method which frequently lacks ecological validity. | Nature vs Nurture | This debate is concerned with finding whether behaviours are either inherited (genetic)...
Words: 801 - Pages: 4
...Holism (System Thinking) VS. Reductionism Marion Johnson Wilmington University November 5, 2013 Table of Content Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Reductionism 3 Holism 4 System Thinking 5 Conclusion 6 References 7 Holism (System Thinking) VS. Reductionism The objective of this research paper is to examine and understand the concepts of holism and reductionism and how they both relate to System Dynamics (SD). This is a part of System Thinking System Thinking (ST) that results a lack of commercial take up. The examination of Reductionism and Holism as applied through System Dynamics (SD) is applied in a broad range of area such as medicine, philosophy, physics, and other different areas of academics. Applications of Reductionism and Holistic principles were examined and defined in this paper. From the basis that SD as a Holistic/Reductionist methodology is deduced from a more differentiated general holistic nature of System Thinking (ST). Holism defined: All-encompassing view based on the knowledge the nature, functions, and properties of the components, their interactions, and their relationships to the whole (Business Dictionary.com). Reductionism defined: Material world-view in which complex phenomenon is broken down into conceptual chunks small enough to be analyzed or measured. The basis of all analysis reductionism is useful in understanding inanimate things or simple systems...
Words: 538 - Pages: 3
...The reductionist approach to criminal law punishment, sometimes also referred to as the deterrence approach, is a forward-looking style of punishment which seeks to deter criminals from undertaking future criminal activity. This can be done specifically, where a single person or group receives a targeted punishment to dissuade them from future bad actions (such as the threat of increasingly harsh punishments for future crimes regardless of the crime), or generally, where examples are made of criminals through the use of publicity and/or especially harsh punishments. Long-term incarceration falls under this category of punishment as well. This involves segregating criminals from the general, law-abiding population in order to prevent them from committing crimes. The retributivist approach, by contrast, is a more backward-looking approach which focuses on ensuring equivalency between the crime committed and the punishment received. Under a retributivist system, the legal system seeks to ensure that the “punishment fits the crime” and is only concerned with crimes committed in the past rather than those which might occur in the future. Alternatively, retributive justice might be concerned with offsetting any advantage gained by the perpetrator of the crime and assign punishment accordingly. In either case, punishment is assigned solely on the basis of the merits of the crime without regard for anything else. This is to be contrasted with reductionist justice, which seeks...
Words: 598 - Pages: 3
...Holism vs. Reductionism Anusha Gujjula Wilmington University Abstract The paper clarifies about the Holism and Reductionism. In order to take care of issues, at first the issue has been derived later the elements of that specific system must to be planned. As indicated by Churchman, (1979) there is a wide range of methods to analyze the complicated systems. Holism is the strategy to speak to the enormous systems as entire. Techniques have their advantages and disadvantages (Verschuren, 2001). Critical thinking is exceptionally essential, however it is additionally an extremely misconstrued science. This is the initial step, yet generally overlooked. At the point when the system is not doing the fancied capacity, then the issue is distinguished in the system (Churchman, 1979). Table of Contents Holism Vs Reductionism…………………………………………………………………………4 Reductionism…………………………………………………………………………………...4 Holism……………………………………………………………………………………….…5 Advantages of Holism on Reductionsm…………………………………………………………..6 Need of Holism over Reductionism……………………………………………………………….7 Conclusion 7 References 8 Holism Vs Reductionism Holism is referred as an alternate approach for system thinking, it’s not only identify the parts, but also helps in understanding the evolution of new entities from the old entities. So, Holism is referred as a better approach than reductionism in terms of systems thinking. Reductionism helps in detecting the parts, identifying the working conditions...
Words: 1439 - Pages: 6
...eductionism vs holism: In reductionism a problem is addressed but studying the properties of its parts. Therefore a complex system is broken down into its component part and each part is studied individually by various approaches. It bills the descriptions of system from the descriptions of subsystem that a system is made off and not considering the relationship between the sub systems. For example, reductionism considers the biological system to the composed of molecules with certain structures or a molecule to be composed of atoms thus reductionism always understand the nature of complex entity by breaking them into much simpler or more fundamental components. Holism: In contrast, the concept of holism believe that the relationship between the part and the system as a whole to be more symmetric than in reductionism. The holism focus on the relation between the sub system that is their inter connectedness, inter dependency and inter action. Thus in holism the natural system and their properties are viewed as whole rather than collection of part. In total, in holism the whole is more than or difference from the sum of its parts. There are no necessary contradictions between the two approaches one focus on the property of the part where as the other on the relationship between them. When put together they stand as suplemtary rather than conflicting. In general there are no philosophical, ideological or practical contradiction between reductionism and holism scientifically. Systems...
Words: 1191 - Pages: 5
...(Instructor) (Institution) (Date) Psychology Human development is a branch of psychology that seeks to study the changes related to age and particularly from birth to death of individuals. Psychologists in their quest to establish the causes of such changes have come up with different theories such as determinism, holism, and reductionism among others. Reductionism is a theory that seeks to explain complex phenomena by reducing it into simpler parts which can thus be summed to give full explanations and meanings (Barkway, 2009). In developmental psychology, Barkway (2009) argues that the theory of reduction as proposed by Sigmund Freud, childhood events usually have an impact on later behavior patterns of individuals (p.21). According to Barkway (2009), reductionism has received criticism from some researchers that it may lead to oversimplification and therefore it does not give full account of complex systems. Reductionism is applicable in health care in various ways such as understanding less complex systems that result in the human developmental stages which may have an impact on their future behaviors (Barkway, 2009). Since reductionism has some shortcomings, the theory of holism was developed which emphasizes that a system operates as a whole rather than in constituent parts (Barkway, 2009). As noted by Penny (1994), this theory is based on the fact that each developmental stage has emergent properties which cannot be reduced into constituents but rather must be studied...
Words: 486 - Pages: 2
...possibility of physical accounts of consciousness. Both object that the qualitative aspect like consciousness and experience cannot be explained. Nagel, in context to his article “What is it like to be a bat?,” he argues that it is impossible to explain and understand the qualitative character of consciousness and that a qualitative character like consciousness can never be reduced to its fundamental form; just like psychology or physical science cannot be reduced to it fundamental principle. Based on his statement Nagel objects the concept of reductionism. “Reduction is an explanation of one set of entity by a more fundamental set of entity (Morton 378).” For example, the reduction of water into steam. One can explain the properties water, which is one fundamental set of entity, when the water gets reduced to steam, which is another fundamental entity. Based on the concept, Nagel argues that the mind and body cannot undergo reductionism because of the very fact that the mind is the very essence of consciousness and that it can never be reduced to its fundamental form. He claims that an organism be it an animal or a human being experiences what is called a conscious experience. It means that there is something to be like that organism. For example, if one had to behave like a cat without changing oneself then the experience of the person acting like a cat would not be as same as the experience of the cat itself. This is what Nagel refers it as a subjective character of experiences...
Words: 1127 - Pages: 5
...Section | Sub-section | Topic | Study | Aim of Research/Findings | Method Used | Evaluation Points | After a Guilty Verdict | Imprisonment | Planner Behaviour once freed from jail | Gillis and Nafekh (2005) | Aim: To investigate the effect of planning employment on recidivism.Results: Those on employment programmes were more likely to remain on conditional release and less likely to reoffend. | Content Analysis | * No cause and effect. * Reoffending figures will not include “hidden crime”. * Strength of matched pairs design. | | | Depression/ Suicide Risk | Dooley (1990) | Aim: To examine the characteristics and motivations for suicides.Results: Characteristics – more suicides in those serving longer sentences and those convicted of violent/sexual offences. Motivations – Intolerable prison situation, guilt for the offence and mental disorders were found to be significant motivations. | Content Analysis | * Reliability of the sources used in analysis (e.g. other inmates) * No cause and effect. * Subjective interpretation of notes * Individual/situational explanations | | | Prison situation and roles | Haney and Zimbardo (1998) | Aim: To describe the past and present of the US prison system.Results: Original experiment found that the prison situation changes behaviour – ‘normal’ people became aggressive. The journal article states that prison situations are damaging, so alternatives should be considered. | Journal article (linked to their previous 1973...
Words: 573 - Pages: 3
...John Lewis Gaddis begins his argument about historical consciousness by describing a scenario from a painting that describes history as a metaphor. I fully agree with the comparison Gaddis made about the relationship with history and the future. The idea that history is abstract and no past event can be redone makes the study of history unique. Gaddis points out that “[historians] pride [themselves] on not trying to predict the future” because the past cannot accurately predict the future (Gaddis 2). Instead, the author illuminates how history can only be represented. Another idea that can be related to everyone’s lives is the fact that we are such a small part of this world and universe. Historical consciousness is said to define...
Words: 497 - Pages: 2
...link: descartes DESCARTES (1596-1650) AND THE CARTESIAN DOGMA OF A MECHANICAL UNIVERSE theme: Descartes is usually regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. His belief in the certainty of knowledge or 'truth' - the 'Cartesian belief' - was the basis for his method of analytic reasoning - the 'Cartesian method' - which he claimed was a function of the 'soul' - 'Cartesian doctrine'. He viewed the universe as a machine designed by divine reason or 'God' - the 'Cartesian dogma'. Descartes' perception of 'human nature'... The "essence of human nature lies in thought, and all the things we conceive clearly and distinctly are true". In this way Descartes demonstrated the value of error and proved his doctrine - the 'Cartesian doctrine' - that human reason was a valid means of searching for certain knowledge or 'truth'. "Most ancient civilizations knew what we have forgotten: that knowledge is a fearful thing. To know the name of something is to hold power over it. In ancient myths and legends, eating from the tree of knowledge meant banishment from one garden or another. In the modern world, this Janus-like quality of knowledge has been forgotten. Descartes, for example, reached the conclusion that 'the more I sought to inform myself, the more I realized how ignorant I was.' Instead of taking this as a proper conclusion of a good education, Descartes thought ignorance was a solvable problem and set forth to find certain truth through a process of radical skepticism." (Miller...
Words: 3190 - Pages: 13
...Parfit’s reductionism of personal identity comes into picture as a radical solution to the duplication problem (assuming that we accept the psychological continuity theory), wherein a personal identity in terms of its psychological continuity could branch into two (or more) successors, each of which is continuous of the previous personal identity before branching and is hence identical to each other, thereby we would seem to have two (or more) persons (or agents) having one and the same identity, thus violating the rule of numerical sameness upon which we build our previous accounts of personal identity. Instead of simply adding the clause such as “this psychological continuity does not take a branching form” as a way to tackle this duplication problem, Parfit has otherwise suggested his reductionism view. This account entails two major arguments, as that 1) the thing as we call “personal identity” is indeterminate and consequently we should see how 2) (the issue of) personal identity might not be as important as it seems to be. These two arguments would be in order discussed to explain his argument for reductionism. First, to say that the personal identity is indeterminate is to say that personal identity is not numerical identity, implying that every bit of changes of the either person’s material constitution (in terms of the spatiotemporal continuity) or of his psychological states (in terms of the psychological continuity) does change the person into a different one; this...
Words: 1302 - Pages: 6
...The first part of the article underlines the axes of the theoretical proposal: the constructivist approach, the concepts of collective identity and submerged networks, as well as the notion of "complex society". The second discusses some limitations of the "Melucciana" proposal, especially cultural reductionism. According to the authors, "[...] the construction of collective identity can not be exclusively the result of processes in the sphere of symbolic...
Words: 562 - Pages: 3
...Svein Olav Nyberg What is selfishness? I asked about “what egoism means”. I should perhaps also have asked what egoism does not mean. For there are a lot of misconceptions about what egoism is. Religious literature incessantly warns us not to think about our own best interest, but the interest of the heavenly, of Man, and of just about everything else. But seldom is there found any advise to follow exactly this own interest. Why then these warnings against self interest, on and on, again and again? Surely not to counter any opposing system of ideas. For there have been close to none. What then is left to counter but — the individual himself! But to counter the individual is not a position that looks very good, so it has to be disguised, disguised as an attack on some “Deep Evil” lurking in self interest — in egoism. So the common view of egoism is far from formed by observation of actual egoists, but by propaganda in its disfavour. I therefore find it fruitful to list what I consider the types most typically mistaken for egoists, both by critics of egoism and by “egoists” themselves: THE PSYCHOPATH: The psychopath is characterised by a tendency of always being in the right and of manipulating others. He typically takes little heed of the interests of people he confronts. The reasoning displayed by those who identify psychopaths with egoists are usually of the type “He does not care for others — thus he must care only for himself ...”, which sets up a dichotomy without any...
Words: 1902 - Pages: 8
...This essay offers a critical examination of how “third gender” concepts are used in popular American writing by and about transgendered people. The authors focus on several points in their essay to illustrate the flaws which is organized into five categories: the primordial location, reductionism and exclusionism, typological errors, inconsistent use of the culture concept, and the West versus the rest. This figure is a literary trope used in transgender testimonial writing to invoke longing for the other and the authors add to this conversation using these five points in arguing that the transgender native surfaces in several of these examples as an object of...
Words: 636 - Pages: 3
...PHIL 2001: Homework 1 1. Explain the Hobbesian state of nature and why life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short"? Provide a short (1-2 paragraph) critique of this view. The Hobbesian state of nature is how Hobbes believe mankind would operate without any form of government. This state of nature is incredibly tumultuous, dangerous, and volatile. In Hobbes opinion, humans are naturally prone to conflict. Hobbes also believes that humans are all created equal both intellectually and physically, which contributes to this conflict. Since they are all equal, no one possess enough power to keep them in “awe”. It is for these reasons that Hobbes believes life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. I disagree with Hobbes regarding his ideas that everything a man does benefits himself in some way. We can see this time and time again in human nature. A great example of this is when people donate a kidney to a loved one. They gain nothing from this, but are still more than willing to do it. This selflessness is so engrained in us, it can even be seen in our movies and TV shows. The classic scene where someone jumps in front of a bullet to save their friend has been acted out hundreds of times. Another point of contention I have with Hobbe’s view of the state of nature, is his idea that a strong ruler must exist to swiftly punish those who defect from the state. I favor Rousseau’s view that this harsh ruler is not necessary because people will not naturally want to defect...
Words: 1254 - Pages: 6
