LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Detailed explanation-1: -The opposite of reductionism is ‘holism’. This approach is traced back to a statement made by Aristotle in his ‘Metaphysics’:2 ‘The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Detailed explanation-2: -Reductionism holds that an entity is a function of its parts; holism holds that wholes have properties not reducible to parts. Reductionists assert that the essence of the entity is a function of its parts, and thus knowledge of the parts is adequate for knowledge of the whole.

Detailed explanation-3: -Also, language can be reduced to structures in the brain, e.g., Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s area (but holism could state: the influence of family, education, and social class on language). Another example of biological reductionism is aggression – e.g., testosterone levels.