Emergence in Science and Philosophy

by Corradini; Antonella

• ISBN13: 9780415802161
• ISBN10: 0415802164
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-26
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The concept of emergence has seen a significant resurgence in philosophy and the sciences. Yet debates regarding emergentist and reductionist visions of the natural world continue to be hampered by imprecision or ambiguity. Emergent phenomena are said to arise out of and be sustained by more basic phenomena, while at the same time exerting a 'top-down' control upon those very sustaining processes. To some critics, this has the air of magic, as it seems to suggest a kind of circular causality. Other critics deem the concept of emergence to be objectionably anti-naturalistic. Objections such as these have led many thinkers to construe emergent phenomena instead as coarse-grained patterns in the world that, while calling for distinctive concepts, do not 'disrupt' the ordinary dynamics of the finer-grained (more fundamental) levels. Yet, reconciling emergence with a (presumed) pervasive causal continuity at the fundamental level can seem to deflate emergence of its initially profound significance. This basic problematic is mirrored by similar controversy over how best to characterize the opposite systematizing impulse, most commonly given an equally evocative but vague term, reductionism. The original essays in this volume help to clarify the alternatives: inadequacies in some older formulations and arguments are exposed and new lines of argument on behalf the two visions are advanced.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
Emergence: General Perspectives
Introduction	p. 3
The Secret Lives of Emergents	p. 7
On the Implications of Scientific Composition and Completeness: Or, The Troubles, and Troubles, of Non-Reductive Physicalism	p. 25
Weak Emergence and Context-Sensitive Reduction	p. 46
Two Varieties of Causal Emergentism	p. 64
The Emergence of Group Cognition
Self, Agency, and Free Will
Introduction	p. 121
Why My Body is Not Me: The Unity Argument for Emergentist Self-Body Dualism	p. 127
What About the Emergence of Consciousness Deserves Puzzlement?	p. 149
The Emergence of Rational Souls	p. 163
Are Deliberations and Decisions Emergent, if Free?	p. 180
Is Emergentism Refuted by the Neurosciences? The Case of Free Will	p. 190
Physics, Mathematics, and the Special Sciences
Introduction	p. 207
Emergence in Physics	p. 213
The Emergence of the Intuition of Truth in Mathematical Thought	p. 233
The Emergence of Mind at the Co-Evolutive Level	p. 251
Emerging Mental Phenomena: Implications for Psychological Explanation	p. 266
How Special Are Special Sciences?	p. 266
Contributors	p. 305
Index	p. 309
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