Questions tagged [emergence]
The emergence tag has no usage guidance.
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Does the distinction between "weak" and "strong" emergence make any sense?
(this post has been edited on 14 Nov 2023 based on comments received at the time)
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Emergence is widely discussed in the context of what could be called bio-philosophy ("Where does life ...
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Is it possible that non-living systems possess consciousness?
This relates to the physical nature of matter, not to metaphysics. I cannot find a robust, universal definition of consciousness, so perhaps the question is meaningless. I am thinking of the behaviour ...
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To what extent can an equation be appropriately described as an emergent property of its variables?
If I think about a variable's value as the result of a measurement or counting, it makes sense to me to think that such a measurement wouldn't magically square itself. That measurement can only be ...
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What is a woman? or Are all social constructions contingent? [closed]
It is difficult these days to avoid becoming familiar with popular disputes surrounding gender. Particularly contentious are questions regarding the ontology of the concepts of woman and man.
On one ...
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Topdown bottom up reductionism emergentism
My question is how reductionism and emergentism/holistic related/same as to top-down bottom-up approach ? Please give me reference if possible
Certainly, here's a table with 10 examples from various ...
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Are the concepts of reductionism and first principles the same?
Are reductionism and foundationalism(first principle)the same thing, or at least highly similar even if different? The first-principles approach is the same as deducing all knowledge claims from ...
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Why does naturalistic dualism imply panpsychism?
From this article:
First, [naturalistic dualism] seems to imply panpsychism, the view that everything in the universe has consciousness. Once you accept the existence of nonphysical features of the ...
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Could there be higher level emergent phenomena from more complex systems with properties different from consciousness?
My original question may have been unclear. Most answers seem to miss my point. So I'll try to restate it.
Can you speculate about an entirely new higher level phenomena that might emerge from a ...
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Are some emergent properties non-falsifiable by science?
Are some emergent properties non-falsifiable as a causal necessity by science? Since we cannot determine why emergent properties are what they are from physics and chemistry laws, I am guessing that ...
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What are the main arguments that emergence-based theories of consciousness can't solve the hard problem of consciousness?
Ever since reading Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach as a teenager I've been fascinated by the idea that consciousness is an emergent property of physical systems. Roughly the claim is that ...
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Who has defended a non-causal (emanationist) concept of strong emergence, compatible with reductionism?
Often in debates about emergence, an opposition is set up between (strong) emergence and reductionism. These are seen as incompatible alternatives.
In particular, if one believes in downward causation,...
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Is there a theory or alternative or nonconventional explanation to the phenomena of emergence?
Is there a theory or alternative or nonconventional explanation to the phenomena of emergence? Emergence state that we can't predict chemistry or biology from physics alone, because there are ...
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Does instrumental corruption constitute extra-will multi-agency?
Through my previous question on ideology and instinct, a more fundamental query was encountered. In both individual and collective minds, semantic decay can result in mental threads out of alignment ...
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Is ideological dogma an example of exogenous instinct?
By my current understanding: Individual instinct is instantiated primarily by lower brain systems, which provide motivations of attraction and repulsion toward particular internal and external objects ...
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What are the missing pieces that prevents us from deriving the laws of chemistry from physics?
What are the missing pieces that prevents us from deriving the laws of chemistry from physics? People say it's emergent properties, but it's hard to believe that there are emergent properties between ...
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Does rejecting reductionism absolutely imply that you accept the existence of emergent properties?
Does rejecting reductionism absolutely imply that you accept the existence of emergent properties? Or is there an alternative explanation to emergent properties? By reductionism, I mean the belief ...
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Emergent consciousness
Thought experiment on emergent consciousness from physical object - brain:
Imagine we record all neural firings of human brain within 5 seconds interval. Now, if we replace each neuron with a single ...
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References for books/papers about emergentism and reductionism
I am trying to look for resources to deepen some topics presented in this workshop Moving Naturalism Forward. Especially the point on emergence (and secondarily on evolution and determinism, but here ...
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Is emergence necessarily context dependent? [closed]
Basically this question stems from trying to answer yet another question that I have:
How does one analyse emergent properties that are not quantifiable, to allow for discrete mathematical probing?
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Reverse epiphenomenalism and recursion?
Let's say for a moment that the mind is of unknown substance, and that the state of a particular brain region is emergent from it. That is certain states of the mind will cause certain states of this ...
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How can complex material systems emerge in ways that allow them to transcend fundamental material structures?
One of the quandaries of reductionism from what I understand is how complex systems can emerge to overtake simple ones. This may sound convoluted, so bear with me as I try to explain.
According to a ...
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Are decidability problems an example of strong emergence?
According to David Chalmers, speaking on Strong Emergence:
We can say that a high-level phenomenon is strongly emergent with respect to a
low-level domain when the high-level phenomenon arises ...
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Why has modern physics not permeated throughout all of philosophy?
Modern physics seems to agree that both time and space are not really fundamental - they are emergent properties. This is articulated well in the IEP article on time.
However, it seems that much of ...
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Debate on dualism, physicalism. etc in philosophy of mind
(I do not have a philosophy background but I do read philosophy myself.)
I have read some review papers of emergence theory, where philosophy of mind is a major battle ground. I find an absence of a ...
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Is emergentism incompatible with reductionism?
I've read, on several occasions, that emergentism is maybe not all the way contrasted but at least to some degree conflicted with reductionism. As I understand, emergentism is a doctrine within ...
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Is information causal?
I am coming to this question in response to scepticism about emergentism as more than an overlay (eg. SEP article).
Entropy is well established as related to relative information about systems, and ...
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Is the concept of emergence sufficient in blocking reductionism?
Is emergence the only avenue to follow in order to successfully short-cirquit full reductionist explanations?
What other recourse does one have to avoid full-fledged reductionism without risking ...
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Sketch of a proof for real free will?
I have read many contemporary philosophers and the mainstream view seems to be that real free will is an illusion in the sense that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon which is only set on top of ...
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Do naturalists think that only microscopic physical things exist?
I was reading an article on time in physics, which is meant to emerge at the macroscopic level. This is interpreted as that it does not really exist.
Is that because only microscopic physical things ...
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Can purpose be attributed to events without grounding in agency
As observers we observe events around us. All events have causes, either deterministic causes or non-deterministic ones. As observers however we can additionally attribute purpose (or meaning as in ...
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Is there a fundamental difference between strong and weak emergence?
Weak emergent properties are said to be properties of a large system that can be predicted or derived by computing the interactions of the system's constituent parts.
Strong emergent properties of a ...
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Emergent Complexity In Probability Distributions
I originally posted this in Physics SE but was told it's more appropriate here...
In quantum mechanics we describe waves of probability or probability distributions. Does this have to or should it be ...
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Relation between Existence of Free Will and Existence of the Self
So, I am a student in mathematics and physics with no formal training in philosophy whatsoever, although I enjoy reading popular discussions of philosophical questions. However, my question is bound ...
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If a physical property is emergent, can it still be artificially recreated?
Let's assume that a physical property is emergent, in the sense that it cannot be reduced to a function of the properties of its components. Can such a property be artificially recreated, or is that a ...
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What are the relations between supervenience, grounding and emergence in philosophy of science?
So, I am wondering if anyone could help me with the notions of grounding (supervenience?) and emergence in the modern discussions in philosophy of science. What are they and what is the relation ...
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Intentionality and emergentism in Marxist theories?
This question came to mind when reading about Adorno and Horkheimer's Culture Industry, but it might apply to any Marxist theory where the bourgeoisie/capitalist class performs some action to defend ...
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Can Thomas Nagel be considered a pantheist?
I have recently come across Thomas Nagel's book "Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False", which I've only skimmed. I've also just finished ...
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What is supervenience emergentism?
I'm trying to understanding supervenience emergentism, but the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry is unclear.
My understanding of supervenience was that the lower level properties of the ...
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Hierarchical Reductionism vs Emergentism [closed]
How does Hierarchical Reductionism (as coined by Richard Dawkins) differ from Emergentism exactly?
Edit:
Dawkins' definition of hierarchical reductionism: https://books.google.fr/books?id=-...
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Holism, reductionism and emergence
I try to understand the difference between holism and reductionism and I wonder whether the concept of emergence belongs to the first one or whether it is just "holism through the eyes of a ...
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About determinism and any relevant views
Is there a term or set of concepts regarding what one might call non-materialistic determinism? The possible idea determinism might not only apply to sets of interacting physical 'things' but also to ...
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What are the arguments against the emergence of mind?
There are theories that state that a mind or human consciousness emerged from the properties of underlying systems, e.g. physical properties of the atoms of the brain, or biological properties of the ...
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What's the difference between "emergence" and "reductionism"?
Isn't a system, which emerged from simpler system also reducible to the simpler system? More general, is emergence the reverse term to reducitionism?
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