The Case for Reduction

One of the most serious charges levelled against theories, analyses, and descriptions is that of being reductive. Conceptual frameworks are criticized for being impoverished and descriptions for being too sparse or flat. Conversely, to call something ‘irreducible’ seems to confer an immediate and indisputable dignity to it, pointing to a certain complexity that cannot be fully grasped or explained. Yet the history of knowledge cannot be told without acknowledging the importance of reductionist paradigms. Reduction is also necessary for achieving a clearer, and more complex grasp of ourselves and the world. This interdisciplinary ICI Fellow workshop will interrogate ‘reduction’ as a concept, as a method, as an experience, as a practice, and as an aesthetic, considering cases where it is taken to signify diminishment and devalorization as well as reduction’s generative potential. How can reduction give rise to openness and inclusion? What does it mean to perform reduction? How does it relate to our world? How can it be used as a lens for research? And what can it perform as a strategy?The Case for Reduction, workshop, ICI Berlin, 22–23 November 2021