The Issue of Reductionism in the Philosophy of Biology

Abstract

The aim of this article was to present one of the methods of reconciling of epistemological antireductionism and ontological physicalism, which explains differences between sciences, through an ontological picture of the most general structure of reality. The main thesis held that accepting this perspective allows us to achieve the above-mentioned reconcilement. First, the main arguments for and against physical reductionism, were described before the ontological assumptions were presented; then the assumptions was analysed in the light of this ontological construction as well as some facts from the fields of methodology and the history of natural sciences. Finally, some conclusions were drawn from the presented vision. They were connected with the epistemological status of analogy and methodological postulate of simplicity.