RT Article
T1 The Metaphysics of Downward Causation: Rediscovering the Formal Cause: with Benedikt P. Göcke, “On the Importance of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause's Panentheism”; Mariusz Tabaczek, “The Metaphysics of Downward Causation: Rediscovering the Formal Cause”; and Zachary Simpson, “Emergence and Non-Personal Theology”
JF Zygon
VO 48
IS 2
SP 380
OP 404
A1 Tabaczek, Mariusz 1980-
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2013
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1827964057
AB The methodological nonreductionism of contemporary biology opens an interesting discussion on the level of ontology and the philosophy of nature. The theory of emergence (EM), and downward causation (DC) in particular, bring a new set of arguments challenging not only methodological, but also ontological and causal reductionism. This argumentation provides a crucial philosophical foundation for the science/theology dialogue. However, a closer examination shows that proponents of EM do not present a unified and consistent definition of DC. Moreover, they find it difficult to prove that higher-order properties can be causally significant without violating the causal laws that operate at lower physical levels. They also face the problem of circularity and incoherence in their explanation. In our article we show that these problems can be overcome only if DC is understood in terms of formal rather than physical (efficient) causality. This breakdown of causal monism in science opens a way to the retrieval of the fourfold Aristotelian notion of causality.
K1 supervenience
K1 nonreductive physicalism
K1 higher-level properties
K1 formal cause
K1 Emergence
K1 efficient cause
K1 downward causation
K1 Aristotle
DO 10.1111/zygo.12012