Even scientists and academics are frequent prey to the delusion that reality is reducible. Fear, deep and wide, is the secret motive force of much human behavior, and I think reduction is often rooted in fear. Passing over fear, I think, is the beginning of every liberatory project.

Stan Goff
About This Quote

The use of the word "reduction" here is quite misleading. The author is not talking about reducing the size of an object or quantity of something. Rather, reduction refers to the act of reducing something to its simplest form or elements. Reduction also refers to the act of reducing something to a numerical value or a mathematical formula.

In all of these cases, something is being reduced. And, if it is being reduced, it is not necessarily being small—it could be large, for all we know. Reduction also doesn't necessarily mean that it is a bad thing.

For example, reduction can be a process that reduces waste and pollutants into our environment. In this case, reduction does not necessarily mean that something that was previously full of life and energy has been destroyed.

Source: Full Spectrum Disorder: The Military In The New American Century

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