REDUCTIONISM

reductionism

(noun) the analysis of complex things into simpler constituents

reductionism

(noun) a theory that all complex systems can be completely understood in terms of their components

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

reductionism (countable and uncountable, plural reductionisms)

An approach to studying complex systems or ideas by reducing them to a set of simpler components.

(philosophy) A philosophical position which holds that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents. In a reductionist framework, the phenomena that can be explained completely in terms of relations between other more fundamental phenomena, are called "epiphenomena".

Source: Wiktionary