Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id BAA23826 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 11 May 2000 01:08:48 +0100 Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 10:06:59 +1000 From: John Wilkins <wilkins@wehi.EDU.AU> Subject: Emergence - the concept, and evolution To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk In-Reply-To: <00e701bfbaf2$3b7a8380$03000004@r2z3h3> Message-ID: <MailDrop1.2d7j-PPC.1000511100659@mac463.wehi.edu.au> X-Authenticated: <wilkins@wehiz.wehi.edu.au> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On Thu, 11 May 2000 04:40:11 +0200 void@internet-zahav.net.il (Tyger)
wrote:
>the word emergent is used in the last years in many fields, but to the
>best
>of my knowledge its origination is from system theory, cybernetics and
>the
>like. mainly its modern usage comes to emphasize properties of complex
>systems which cannot be reduced to the components of the same system.
>examples abound:
>1. wetness is an emregnt property of water
>2. health is an emergent property of body
>3. a hive behavior is an emrgent property of many bees
>4. flock behavior is an emergent property of many birds
>
>on the same gyst it may be said that consciousness is an emergent
>property
>of brains etc. (see Chalmers)
>
>I dont think it is anti-evolutionary. systemic perception allows for
>properties that are not reducible to its components. that does not mean
>something out of nothing. it means something out of many something
>elses,
>which do not contain the specific something.
>
>the concept weather for example is not reducible to wind or
>temperature, yet
>it is an obvious example of a property emerging from many localities
>operating as an ensemble. co-operating and co-evolving.
>
>Tyger.
The term "emergent" was coined by George H Lewes, an evolutionary
thinker, around 1866. It was taken up by CL Morgan and several others in
the 1920s under the rubric "emergent evolution". CD Broad made it the
centrepiece of his psychology. If anyone has access to an older
Encyclopedia Brittanica, check the article "Emergent Evolution" which
was first published around 1925, and remains in my 1960 edition. It was
written, IIRC, by Morgan.
These days emergence has a slight odour among philosophers and
evolutionary biologists, who see it as a form of vitalism. In fact it is
not IMO - emergence is an artifact of the ability of humans to predict
complex behavior. In other words, it is a computational limitation -
anything we can calculate the outcomes of in a reasonable time is termed
emergent. Mill in his System of Logic (first published around 1832) made
this claim and called it something like "compositional" properties - I
don't have a copy to hand right now.
A better term is Kim's supervenience - any two identical physical
systems (in all possible worlds) will have the same supervenient
properties, but the same supervenient properties can be realised in
different phsyical systems (identical brains have identical minds, but
identical minds might also arise in computers, for example). Elliot
Sober in his _Nature of Selection_ and his 1993 argued that "fitness" is
a supervenient property of organisms (hence also memes?) because the
physical causes of fitness of genes and traits are different case by
case but similar if the organisms are similar.
Recent usage of "emergence" appears in AI and related disciplines, and
it appears to be in the computational sense. Several evolutionary
properties, such as norms, organisation, mind, and various other
outcomes of evolution are called "emergent" in the literature, and I've
listed a few.
The best (only?) history of the concept is Blitz. Wimsatt gives the most
abstract and general discussion I know.
------
Blitz, David. Emergent evolution : qualitative novelty and the levels of
reality. Dordrecht ; Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992.
Broad, Charlie Dunbar. The mind and its place in nature International
library of psychology, philosophy and scientific method. London; New
York: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner; Harcourt, Brace, 1937.
Kim, Jaegwon. Supervenience and mind: selected philosophical essays
Cambridge studies in philosophy. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University
Press, 1993.
Mill, John Stuart. A system of logic, ratiocinative and inductive :
being a connected view of the principles of evidence and the methods of
scientific investigation. London: Longmans Green, 1930.
Morgan, Conwy Lloyd. Emergent evolution : the Gifford lectures delivered
in the University of St. Andrews in the year 1922 Gifford Lectures. St.
Andrews University ; 1922. London: Williams And Norgate, 1923.
Peters, Selton Luke. Emergent materialism : a proposed solution to the
mind/body problem. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1995.
Quastler, Henry. The emergence of biological organization. New Haven:
Yale U.P, 1964.
Sober, Elliott. The nature of selection: evolutionary theory in
philosophical focus. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984.
Sober, Elliott. Philosophy of biology Dimensions of philosophy series.
Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1993.
Ullmann-Margalit, Edna. The emergence of norms. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1977.
Wimsatt, William C. "Aggregativity: reductive heuristics for finding
emergence." Philosophy of Science 64, no. 4 (1997): S372-S384.
--John Wilkins, Head, Graphic Production The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Melbourne, Australia <mailto:wilkins@WEHI.EDU.AU> <http://www.users.bigpond.com/thewilkins/darwiniana.html> Homo homini aut deus aut lupus - Erasmus of Rotterdam
=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 11 2000 - 01:09:10 BST