RE: The Watchmaker: my fav argument
March 6, 2021 at 1:56 pm
(This post was last modified: March 6, 2021 at 2:06 pm by Angrboda.)
(March 6, 2021 at 1:41 pm)John 6IX Breezy Wrote: Irreducible simply means not able to be reduced―the function does not retain coherence in dissociated parts. Glue retains its function whether you have a cup or reduce it to an ounce. Vision does not retain its function when you tamper with the extraocular muscles, it leads to double vision, loss of depth perception, etc. Is that not an acceptable use of the word?
Somewhat. Something may be incapable of being reduced along certain lines and not be irreducible. And it implies that it is not reducible to any function, not just the given function, in the sense under consideration. Irreducibility is all or nothing. It is only irreducible if it is not reducible given all methods. For instance, in the medical example you gave, a dysfunctional visual system may still function biologically in other ways.
Oxford English Dictionary Wrote:irreducible, adj.
1. That cannot be reduced.
(Patricia Churchland does a good job of explaining reduction and its various species in the book "Neurophilosophy." I'll see if I can find my copy.)