Power Structuralism in Ancient Ontologies Two Concepts of Emergence
May 7, 2014
Timothy O'Connor, a Professor of Philosophy at Indiana University, dives deep into the concepts of emergence, focusing on the distinction between weak and strong emergence. He uses Conway's Game of Life as a metaphor to illustrate how simple micro-level interactions yield complex phenomena. O'Connor argues against common skepticism about strong emergence, suggesting that the interpretations in philosophy and psychology need greater clarity. He further explores the implications of these ideas on consciousness and the potential impacts of intentionality.
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Two Distinct Senses Of Emergence
- Emergence splits into distinct senses called weak and strong, differing in logical strength and impact.
- Strong emergence implies weak emergence but not vice versa and matters for metaphysics.
Game Of Life As A Toy World
- John Conway's Game of Life provides a simple toy world of discrete cells governed by three rules.
- Conway's rules (birth, survival, death) generate stable clusters and macro patterns from simple micro dynamics.
Weak Emergence: Explanatory Autonomy
- Weak emergence: macro-level patterns are explanatorily irreducible but causally derivative from micro-rules.
- High-level theories can be autonomous explanatorily even though microphysics fully determines behavior.
