Metaphysical Emergence

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Metaphysical Emergence

Author : Jessica M. Wilson
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780198823742

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Metaphysical Emergence by Jessica M. Wilson Pdf

Both the special sciences and ordinary experience present us with a world of macro-entities - trees, birds, lakes, mountains, humans, houses, and sculptures, to name a few - which materially depend on lower-level configurations, but which are also distinct from and distinctively efficacious ascompared to those configurations. This give rise to two key questions. First, what is metaphysical emergence, more precisely? Second, is there actually any metaphysical emergence? Metaphysical Emergence provides clear, compelling, and systematic answers to these questions. Wilson argues that thereare two and only two forms of metaphysical emergence that make sense of the target cases: 'Weak' emergence, whereby a macro-entity or feature has a proper subset of the powers of its base-level configuration, and 'Strong' emergence, whereby a macro-entity or feature has a new power as compared toits base-level configuration. Given that the lower-level configurations are physical, Weak emergence unifies and accommodates diverse accounts of realization associated with varieties of non-reductive physicalism, whereas Strong emergence unifies and accommodates anti-physicalist views according towhich there may be fundamentally novel features, forces, interactions, or laws at higher levels of compositional complexity. After defending each form of emergence from various objections, Wilson considers whether complex systems, ordinary objects, consciousness, and free will are actually eitherWeakly or Strongly metaphysically emergent. She argues that Weak emergence is quite common, and that Strong emergence, while in most cases at best a live empirical possibility, is instantiated for the important case of free will.

Emergence

Author : Mariusz Tabaczek
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
Page : 531 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2019-07-25
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780268105006

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Emergence by Mariusz Tabaczek Pdf

Over the last several decades, the theories of emergence and downward causation have become arguably the most popular conceptual tools in scientific and philosophical attempts to explain the nature and character of global organization observed in various biological phenomena, from individual cell organization to ecological systems. The theory of emergence acknowledges the reality of layered strata or levels of systems, which are consequences of the appearance of an interacting range of novel qualities. A closer analysis of emergentism, however, reveals a number of philosophical problems facing this theory. In Emergence, Mariusz Tabaczek offers a thorough analysis of these problems and a constructive proposal of a new metaphysical foundation for both the classic downward causation-based and the new dynamical depth accounts of emergence theory, developed by Terrence Deacon. Tabaczek suggests ways in which both theoretical models of emergentism can be grounded in the classical and the new (dispositionalist) versions of Aristotelianism. This book will have an eager audience in metaphysicians working both in the analytic and the Thomistic traditions, as well as philosophers of science and biology interested in emergence theory and causation.

The Metaphysics of Emergence

Author : R. Campbell
Publisher : Springer
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2015-04-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781137502384

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The Metaphysics of Emergence by R. Campbell Pdf

This book argues that a plausible account of emergence requires replacing the traditional assumption that what primarily exists are particular entities with generic processes. Traversing contemporary physics and issues of identity over time, it then proceeds to develop a metaphysical taxonomy of emergent entities and of the character of human life.

Essential Difference

Author : James Blachowicz
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2012-09-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781438443317

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Essential Difference by James Blachowicz Pdf

Proposes a new way of understanding the nature of metaphysics, focusing on nonreductionist emergence theory, both in ancient and modern philosophy, as well as in contemporary philosophy of science. Is metaphysics possible? This book argues that the greatest threat to its viability derives from a self-destructive formalism. If what is essential to the nature of physical entities are the properties they have in common (as formalism holds), the inevitable result will be a reductionist collapse—leaving only “being” or physical “matter” or some other underlying ground. In Essential Difference, James Blachowicz first constructs a one-to-one historical parallel between the modern crisis surrounding formalism (Hume/Kant/Hegel) and the ancient version (Parmenides/Plato/Aristotle), focusing on the principles of differentiation and individuation that underlie Aristotle’s and Hegel’s antireductionist programs. He then proposes a contemporary metaphysical theory of emergence in the context of recent philosophy of science. This theory, founded on the principle of the nonderivability of actual states from possible states, holds that the differences among physical, biological, and mental phenomena are essential to any metaphysics.Essential Difference is the only focused treatment of this problem and is itself essential for any understanding of the nature of metaphysics.

The Routledge Handbook of Emergence

Author : Sophie Gibb,Robin Findlay Hendry,Tom Lancaster
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 588 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2019-03-13
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317381495

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The Routledge Handbook of Emergence by Sophie Gibb,Robin Findlay Hendry,Tom Lancaster Pdf

Emergence is often described as the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts: interactions among the components of a system lead to distinctive novel properties. It has been invoked to describe the flocking of birds, the phases of matter and human consciousness, along with many other phenomena. Since the nineteenth century, the notion of emergence has been widely applied in philosophy, particularly in contemporary philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and metaphysics. It has more recently become central to scientists’ understanding of phenomena across physics, chemistry, complexity and systems theory, biology and the social sciences. The Routledge Handbook of Emergence is an outstanding reference source and exploration of the concept of emergence, and is the first collection of its kind. Thirty-two chapters by an international team of contributors are organised into four parts: Foundations of emergence Emergence and mind Emergence and physics Emergence and the special sciences Within these sections important topics and problems in emergence are explained, including the British Emergentists; weak vs. strong emergence; emergence and downward causation; dependence, complexity and mechanisms; mental causation, consciousness and dualism; quantum mechanics, soft matter and chemistry; and evolution, cognitive science and social sciences. Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and metaphysics, The Routledge Handbook of Emergence will also be of interest to those studying foundational issues in biology, chemistry, physics and psychology.

Reduction and Emergence in Science and Philosophy

Author : Carl Gillett
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2016-09-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781316776643

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Reduction and Emergence in Science and Philosophy by Carl Gillett Pdf

Grand debates over reduction and emergence are playing out across the sciences, but these debates have reached a stalemate, with both sides declaring victory on empirical grounds. In this book, Carl Gillett provides new theoretical frameworks with which to understand these debates, illuminating both the novel positions of scientific reductionists and emergentists and the recent empirical advances that drive these new views. Gillett also highlights the flaws in existing philosophical frameworks and reorients the discussion to reflect the new scientific advances and issues, including the nature of 'parts' and 'wholes', the character of aggregation, and thus the continuity of nature itself. Most importantly, Gillett shows how disputes about concrete scientific cases are empirically resolvable and hence how we can break the scientific stalemate. Including a detailed glossary of key terms, this volume will be valuable for researchers and advanced students of the philosophy of science and metaphysics, and scientific researchers working in the area.

Brute Facts

Author : Elly Vintiadis,Constantinos Mekios
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2018-10-18
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191076251

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Brute Facts by Elly Vintiadis,Constantinos Mekios Pdf

Brute facts are facts that don't have explanations. Such facts appear in our explanations, inform many people's views about the structure of the world, and are part of philosophical interpretations in metaphysics and the philosophy of science. Yet, despite the considerable literature on explanation, the question of bruteness has been left largely unexamined. The chapters in Brute Facts address this gap in academic thought by exploring the central considerations which surround this topic. How can we draw a distinction between facts that can reasonably be thought of as brute and facts for which further explanation is possible? Can we explain something and gain understanding by appealing to brute facts? Is naturalism inconsistent with the existence of (non-physical) brute facts? Can modal facts be brute facts? Are emergent facts brute? This volume brings together contributions by authors who offer different answers to these questions. In presenting a range of different viewpoints on these matters, Brute Facts engages with major debates in contemporary philosophy concerning modality, naturalism, consciousness, reduction and explanation.

Metaphysics and Science

Author : Stephen Mumford,Matthew Tugby
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2013-06-27
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199674527

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Metaphysics and Science by Stephen Mumford,Matthew Tugby Pdf

This collection brings together the latest new work within an emerging philosophical discipline: the metaphysics of science. A new definition of this line of philosophical enquiry is developed, and leading academics offer original essays on four key topics at the heart of the subject—laws, causation, natural kinds, and emergence.

The Emergence of Whitehead's Metaphysics, 1925-1929

Author : Lewis S. Ford
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 372 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 1985-06-30
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781438402994

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The Emergence of Whitehead's Metaphysics, 1925-1929 by Lewis S. Ford Pdf

A breathtaking detective story, this book charts the adventure of Whitehead's ideas in a remarkably detailed and careful reconstruction of his metaphysical views. Incorporating heretofore unpublished material from students' notes and correspondence, Professor Ford analyzes the order of composition of various portions of Whitehead's books, principally Science and the Modern World, Religion in the Making, and Process and Reality. Ford's reconstructive method is perfectly tailored to his subject, for Whitehead revised by inserting new material rather than altering or deleting the old. Thus Ford is able to date the sequence of the composition of many passages. In distinguishing these layers of articulation, he has pushed the techniques of "higher criticism" beyond anything the French structuralists and deconstructionists have dreamed of and chronicled an extraordinary intellectual biography.

Physicalism, or Something Near Enough

Author : Terence Horgan,Brian McLaughlin
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2023-03-15
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783746037851

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Physicalism, or Something Near Enough by Terence Horgan,Brian McLaughlin Pdf

Jaegwon Kim (1934-019) was one of the most influential metaphysicians and philosophers of mind in the last third of the Twentieth Century and early Twenty-First Century. In metaphysics, he did pioneering work on events, supervenience, emergence, higher-level causation, properties, and the metaphysics of the special sciences. His highly influential work in the philosophy of mind centered around the mind-body problem. This special issue of Protosciology is in his honor.

The Emergence of German Idealism

Author : Michael Baur,Daniel O. Dahlstrom
Publisher : CUA Press
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2018-03-02
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780813230504

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The Emergence of German Idealism by Michael Baur,Daniel O. Dahlstrom Pdf

Immanuel Kant's "critical philosophy" is rightly renowned for its criticism of the metaphysical pretensions of reason unaided by experience. It therefore seems ironic that, within a single generation, some of Kant's most important followers argued that th

Re-emergence

Author : Gerald Vision
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780262015844

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Re-emergence by Gerald Vision Pdf

A philosopher offers a non-physicalist theory of mind, revisiting and defending a key doctrine of emergentism. The presence of sentience in a basically material reality is among the mysteries of existence. Many philosophers of mind argue that conscious states and properties are nothing beyond the matter that brings them about. Finding these arguments less than satisfactory, Gerald Vision offers a nonphysicalist theory of mind. Revisiting and defending a key doctrine of the once widely accepted school of philosophy known as emergentism, Vision proposes that conscious states are emergents, although they depend for their existence on their material bases. Although many previous emergentist theories have been decisively undermined, Vision argues that emergent options are still viable on some issues. In Re-Emergence he explores the question of conscious properties arising from brute, unthinking matter, making the case that there is no equally plausible non-emergent alternative. Vision defends emergentism even while conceding that conscious properties and states are realized by or strongly supervene on the physical. He argues, however, that conscious properties cannot be reduced to, identified with, or given the right kind of materialist explanation in terms of the physical reality on which they depend. Rather than use emergentism simply to assail the current physicalist orthodoxy, Vision views emergentism as a contribution to understanding conscious aspects. After describing and defending his version of emergentism, Vision reviews several varieties of physicalism and near-physicalism, finding that his emergent theory does a better job of coming to grips with these phenomena.

Classical Indian Metaphysics: Refutations of Realism and the Emergence of New Logic

Author : Stephen H. Phillips
Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 1998-01-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9788120814882

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Classical Indian Metaphysics: Refutations of Realism and the Emergence of New Logic by Stephen H. Phillips Pdf

Our knowledge of the most ancient times in India rests mainly on tradition. The Puranas, the Mahabharata, and in a minor degree of Ramayana profess to give accounts from tradition about the earliest occurrences. The Rgveda contains historical allusions, of which some record contemporary persons and events, but more refer to bygone times and persons and are obviously based on tradition. Almost all the information, therefore, comes from tradition. The results obtained from an examination of Puranic and epic tradition as well as of the Rgveda and Vedic literature are set forth in the present book, which happens to be a pioneering work in the area by an important orientalist of the nineteenth century.

Emergence

Author : Paul Humphreys
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2016-10-14
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780190620332

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Emergence by Paul Humphreys Pdf

Interest in emergence amongst philosophers and scientists has grown in recent years, yet the concept continues to be viewed with skepticism by many. In this book, Paul Humphreys argues that many of the problems arise from a long philosophical tradition that is overly committed to synchronic reduction and has been overly focused on problems in philosophy of mind. He develops a novel account of diachronic ontological emergence called transformational emergence, shows that it is free of the problems raised against synchronic accounts, shows that there are plausible examples of transformational emergence within physics and chemistry, and argues that the central ideas fit into a well established historical tradition of emergence that includes John Stuart Mill, G.E. Moore, and C.D. Broad. The book also provides a comprehensive assessment of current theories of emergence and so can be used as a way into what is by now a very large literature on the topic. It places theories of emergence within a plausible classification, provides criteria for emergence, and argues that there is no single unifying account of emergence. Reevaluations of related topics in metaphysics are provided, including fundamentality, physicalism, holism, methodological individualism, and multiple realizability, among others. The relations between scientific and philosophical conceptions of emergence are assessed, with examples such as self-organization, ferromagnetism, cellular automata, and nonlinear systems being discussed. Although the book is written for professional philosophers, simple and intuitively accessible examples are used to illustrate the new concepts.

Sociality and Normativity for Robots

Author : Raul Hakli,Johanna Seibt
Publisher : Springer
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-30
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783319531335

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Sociality and Normativity for Robots by Raul Hakli,Johanna Seibt Pdf

This volume offers eleven philosophical investigations into our future relations with social robots--robots that are specially designed to engage and connect with human beings. The contributors present cutting edge research that examines whether, and on which terms, robots can become members of human societies. Can our relations to robots be said to be "social"? Can robots enter into normative relationships with human beings? How will human social relations change when we interact with robots at work and at home? The authors of this volume explore these questions from the perspective of philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, and robotics. The first three chapters offer a taxonomy for the classification of simulated social interactions, investigate whether human social interactions with robots can be genuine, and discuss the significance of social relations for the formation of human individuality. Subsequent chapters clarify whether robots could be said to actually follow social norms, whether they could live up to the social meaning of care in caregiving professions, and how we will need to program robots so that they can negotiate the conventions of human social space and collaborate with humans. Can we perform joint actions with robots, where both sides need to honour commitments, and how will such new commitments and practices change our regional cultures? The authors connect research in social robotics and empirical studies in Human-Robot Interaction to recent debates in social ontology, social cognition, as well as ethics and philosophy of technology. The book is a response to the challenge that social robotics presents for our traditional conceptions of social interaction, which presuppose such essential capacities as consciousness, intentionality, agency, and normative understanding. The authors develop insightful answers along new interdisciplinary pathways in "robophilosophy," a new research area that will help us to shape the "robot revolution," the distinctive technological change of the beginning 21st century.