Reductionism, Vitalism, and Holism

The reductionist strategy, adopted by physics and chemistry, which was based on the effort to reduce the concepts necessary for the statement of scientific explanations to a minimum, was attractive to those who worked in the biomedical field. On the other hand, the vitalistic point of view opposed mechanism, believing that there were processes in living organisms that do not obey the laws of physics and chemistry. Finally, the holistic approach is focused on the evidence that the organized whole is almost always much more than the sum of its parts, and have led to direct attention to emerging qualities in a highly organized system which is a living being.