Reductionism vs. obscurantism
Reductionism vs. obscurantism
Reductionism, breaking complex phenomena into parts, is a key method in science. Understanding complex phenomena requires understanding their parts. Once parts are understood, they can be assembled to explore higher order relationships. Evolution is a classical example of the success of reductionism. By understanding details of mutation, recombination and selection, understanding of complexities of evolution gradually unfolded. Understanding how science breaks things into parts is an important goal of science education.
Obscurantism, obscuring understanding by focusing on complexity, is the opposite of reductionism. Obscurantism is a major tool of antiscientific disciplines including intelligent design. Intelligent design argues that complexity rules out natural evolutionary mechanisms. Such habits of thought discourage analytical thinking and must be discouraged among science students.
Reductionism at wikipedia