Single Idea 7003

[catalogued under 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 3. Levels of Reality]

Full Idea

We should accept levels of organisation, levels of complexity, levels of description, and levels of explanation, but not the levels of reality favoured by many anti-reductionists. The world is then ontologically, but not analytically, reductive.

Gist of Idea

There are levels of organisation, complexity, description and explanation, but not of reality

Source

John Heil (From an Ontological Point of View [2003], Intro)

Book Reference

Heil,John: 'From an Ontological Point of View' [OUP 2005], p.10


A Reaction

This sounds right to me. The crunch questions seem to be whether the boundaries at higher levels of organisation exist lower down, and whether the causal laws of the higher levels can be translated without remainder into lower level laws.