In a certain world, it’s possible to build stuff. For example, you can build a ship. You build it out of some ingredients, such as wood, and by doing a bit of work. The thing is, though, there’s only one general method that can possibly used to build a ship, and there are some things you can do that are useful only for building a ship. You have some freedom within this method: for example, you can give your ship 18 masts if you want to. However, the way you build the ship has literally nothing to do with the end result; whether you put 18 masts on a ship or none, it will end up with precisely the correct number. Any variation on the ship-building process gives you either exactly the same sort of ship or nothing at all.
If I lived in this world, I would conclude that a ship simply isn’t made up of parts.
This is what non-reductionism looks like:
In a certain world, it’s possible to build stuff. For example, you can build a ship. You build it out of some ingredients, such as wood, and by doing a bit of work. The thing is, though, there’s only one general method that can possibly used to build a ship, and there are some things you can do that are useful only for building a ship. You have some freedom within this method: for example, you can give your ship 18 masts if you want to. However, the way you build the ship has literally nothing to do with the end result; whether you put 18 masts on a ship or none, it will end up with precisely the correct number. Any variation on the ship-building process gives you either exactly the same sort of ship or nothing at all.
If I lived in this world, I would conclude that a ship simply isn’t made up of parts.