Emergent Structure

Jonathan Opie (University of Adelaide)

Abstract:
The world is full of complex things, which in some sense emerge from the activity of smaller, less complex things. But the nature and significance of emergence remains contentious. Some argue that it is real, but uninteresting. Others, that any philosophically significant kind of emergence must take us outside the sciences as they are currently conceived. I will argue that emergence is both real and illuminating, and of crucial importance for understanding the world.

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