The Re-Emergence of Emergence The Emergentist Hypothesis from Science to Religion

by Clayton, Philip; Davies, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780199287147
• ISBN10: 0199287147
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-24
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This volume introduces readers to emergence theory, outlines the major arguments in its defence, and summarizes the most powerful objections against it. It provides the clearest explication yet of this exciting new theory of science, which challenges the reductionist approach by proposing the continuous emergence of novel phenomena.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Preface	ix
Paul C.W. Davies
1. Conceptual Foundations of Emergence Theory	1	(34)
Philip Clayton
I. THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES
2. The Physics of Downward Causation	35	(18)
Paul C.W. Davies
3. The Emergence of Classicality from Quantum Theory	53	(26)
Erich Joos
4. On the Nature of Emergent Reality	79	(32)
George F.R. Ellis
II. THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
5. Emergence: The Hole at the Wheel's Hub	111	(40)
Terrence W. Deacon
6. The Role of Emergence in Biology	151	(15)
Lynn J. Rothschild
7. Emergence in Social Evolution: A Great Ape Example	166	(23)
Barbara Smuts
III. CONSCIOUSNESS AND EMERGENCE
8. Being Realistic about Emergence	189	(14)
Jaegwon Kim
9. In Defence of Ontological Emergence and Mental Causation	203	(24)
Michael Silberstein
10. Emergence and Mental Causation	227	(17)
Nancey Murphy
11. Strong and Weak Emergence	244	(13)
David J. Chalmers
IV. RELIGION AND EMERGENCE
12. Emergence, Mind, and Divine Action: The Hierarchy of the Sciences in Relation to the Human Mind—Brain—Body	257	(22)
Arthur Peacocke
13. Emergence: What is at Stake for Religious Reflection?	279	(24)
Niels Henrik Gregersen
14. Emergence from Quantum Physics to Religion: A Critical Appraisal	303	(20)
Philip Clayton
Notes on Contributors	323	(4)
Index	327