Emergence Everywhere⁈ Reflections on Philip Clayton's Mind and Emergence: Emergence Theory—What Is Its Promise?

Abstract. Emergence is a powerful concept marked by great emotional, aesthetic, and intellectual appeal. It makes inroads into the understanding of the most diverse phenomena. Emergence appears to have the potential of explaining anything from the behavior of atoms, ant colonies, and traffic jams to...

Полное описание

Сохранить в:  
Библиографические подробности
Главный автор: Jackelén, Antje 1955- (Автор)
Формат: Электронный ресурс Статья
Язык:Английский
Проверить наличие: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Загрузка...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Опубликовано: Wiley-Blackwell 2006
В: Zygon
Год: 2006, Том: 41, Выпуск: 3, Страницы: 623-632
Другие ключевые слова:B Philip Clayton
B Hierarchy
B Theism
B differentiated relationality
B complex regular polytope
B Emergence
B Hermeneutics
B Metaphor
B religious naturalism
B Complexity
Online-ссылка: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Описание
Итог:Abstract. Emergence is a powerful concept marked by great emotional, aesthetic, and intellectual appeal. It makes inroads into the understanding of the most diverse phenomena. Emergence appears to have the potential of explaining anything from the behavior of atoms, ant colonies, and traffic jams to insurance risks, human consciousness, and divine action. Philip Clayton's book Mind and Emergence (2004) offers much-needed clarification of the philosophical grounding of emergence theory. To a large extent, emergence hinges on the concept of levels and hierarchies in nature. The preferred metaphor is that of a ladder. Given the tendency of concepts like emergence to build ideology, a careful analysis of language and metaphor is called for, however. I argue that the preference for the ladder metaphor does not do justice to the differentiated relationality that is a distinct mark of emergence. This oversight may have detrimental consequences when emergence theory is transferred from natural to social and cultural processes. A hermeneutical analysis suggests that better metaphors and visualizations need to be found. As an invitation to consider alternatives, some examples of complex regular poly topes are offered.
ISSN:1467-9744
Второстепенные работы:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00764.x