Concept
Emergence
Overview
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its components do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole.
Emergence plays a central role in theories of integrative levels and of complex systems. For instance, the phenomenon of life as studied in biology is arguably an emergent property of chemistry and physics.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Philosophers who discussed Emergence
- Wilhelm Wundt
- Cornelius Castoriadis
- Nicolai Hartmann
- Samuel Alexander
- Roy Bhaskar
- William C. Wimsatt
- F. C. S. Schiller
Related ideas
- Cognition
- Principle of sufficient reason
- Quality (philosophy)
- Grammar
- Philosophy
- Hierarchy
- Julian Huxley
- John Stuart Mill
- Language
- Mind–body dualism
- Ecological economics
- Life
- Religious naturalism
- Max Weber
- Holism
- Mental state
- George Henry Lewes
- Linguistics
- Probability
- Physics
- Physicalism
- Jaegwon Kim
- David Chalmers
- Metaphysics (Aristotle)
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Aesthetics.