Methodological reductionism is a driving force of scientific thinking. Unlike the more controversial, and philosophically dubious, connotations of the term, methodological reductionism embodies a general principle of intellectual parsimony. It does not establish debatable hierarchies among pedagogically distinct scientific areas, it does not seek to identify equally controversial ultimate constituents of reality. Instead, it attempts the consolidation of a collection of more or less intuitively connected items into a more general item, of which they become refinements or specializations. This trend towards simplicity (the parsimony of explanation) is the underlying fabric of scientific endeavor. Simplicity is the hallmark of that undefinable quality of science called “elegance”: a simpler proof.
