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Single Idea 3432
[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 7. Emergent Properties
]
Full Idea
Emergent properties are said to be irreducible to, and unpredictable from, the lower-level phenomena from which they emerge (as weight is a 'resultant' property, but the transparency of water is an 'emergent' property).
Gist of Idea
Is weight a 'resultant' property of water, but transparency an 'emergent' property?
Source
Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind [1996], p.228)
Book Ref
Kim,Jaegwon: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Westview 1998], p.228
A Reaction
So weight is predictable, but transparency is a surprise? But presumably the transparency of water is totally predictable, once you understand it. Emergent properties are either dualist or reducible, in my view.
The
14 ideas
with the same theme
[new properties only found at higher levels of existence]:
3471
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Some properties depend on components, others on their relations
[Searle]
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3472
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Fully 'emergent' properties contradict our whole theory of causation
[Searle]
|
2320
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Properties can have causal powers lacked by their constituents
[Kim]
|
3291
|
Emergent properties appear at high levels of complexity, but aren't explainable by the lower levels
[Nagel]
|
3432
|
Is weight a 'resultant' property of water, but transparency an 'emergent' property?
[Kim]
|
3434
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Emergent properties are 'brute facts' (inexplicable), but still cause things
[Kim]
|
2469
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The world is full of messy small things producing stable large-scale properties (e.g. mountains)
[Fodor]
|
4083
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If mental properties are emergent they add a new type of causation, and physics is not complete
[Crane]
|
4082
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The distinction between 'resultant' properties (weight) and 'emergent' properties is a bit vague
[Crane]
|
4612
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Complex properties are just arrangements of simple properties; they do not "emerge" as separate
[Heil]
|
4615
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Complex properties are not new properties, they are merely new combinations of properties
[Heil]
|
18513
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Emergent properties will need emergent substances to bear them
[Heil]
|
14302
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A lead molecule is not leaden, and macroscopic properties need not be microscopically present
[Mumford]
|
14553
|
Weak emergence is just unexpected, and strong emergence is beyond all deduction
[Mumford/Anjum]
|