Emergence

The manifestation of higher-level regularities in Nature.

Emergent phenomena are not necessarily less fundamental than lower-level processes. Explanations at higher levels should not be designated second-class — they may be the only level at which certain problems can be understood. Reductionism falsely demands that only lower-level explanations count.

Connections

• •Misunderstood by Reductionism — which treats higher levels as derivative
• •Produces phenomena best explained at their own level, not reduced
• •Conspiracism mistakes emergent regularities for intentional design
• •Abstract entities often describe emergent properties
• •Knowledge itself is an emergent phenomenon
• •The Hierarchy Rule describes default behavior absent knowledge; emergence complicates it
• •Laws of Physics and Principles of Physics operate at different emergent levels