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Single Idea 4082

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 7. Emergent Properties ]

Full Idea

The distinction between 'resultant' properties like weight, and 'emergent' properties like colour, seems intuitive enough, but on examination it is very hard to make precise.

Gist of Idea

The distinction between 'resultant' properties (weight) and 'emergent' properties is a bit vague

Source

Tim Crane (Elements of Mind [2001], 2.18)

Book Ref

Crane,Tim: 'Elements of Mind' [OUP 2001], p.64

A Reaction

It is no coincidence that the examples are of primary and secondary qualities. If 'the physical entails the mental' then all mental properties are resultant.

The 14 ideas with the same theme [new properties only found at higher levels of existence]:

3471 Some properties depend on components, others on their relations [Searle]
3472 Fully 'emergent' properties contradict our whole theory of causation [Searle]
2320 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 Emergent properties are 'brute facts' (inexplicable), but still cause things [Kim]
2469 The world is full of messy small things producing stable large-scale properties (e.g. mountains) [Fodor]
4083 If mental properties are emergent they add a new type of causation, and physics is not complete [Crane]
4082 The distinction between 'resultant' properties (weight) and 'emergent' properties is a bit vague [Crane]
4612 Complex properties are just arrangements of simple properties; they do not "emerge" as separate [Heil]
4615 Complex properties are not new properties, they are merely new combinations of properties [Heil]
18513 Emergent properties will need emergent substances to bear them [Heil]
14302 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]