Ninth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here. The paired opposite to reductionism is called emergentism, and in recent years it has begun to gain an increasing number of advocates. In summary, it means that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Unexpected behaviors and properties can emerge, even from simple Continue Reading …
Episode 163: Guest Stewart Umphrey on Natural Kinds (Part Two)
Continuing our interview about Natural Kinds and Genesis: The Classification of Material Entities. Now we get down to it: Given the argument for continuants in part 1, Stewart talks about how that founds the idea of a natural kind (the nature of a continuant) and considers what might count as one. Should the fact that there are borderline cases, i.e., vagueness in a concept, Continue Reading …
Not School: P.W. Anderson’s “More Is Different” on Emergence
Featuring Dylan Casey, Bill Burgess, Casey Fitzpatrick, Ernie Prabhakar, and Evan Gould. Recorded 12/20/13. You can read this 1972 paper here. Philip Warren Anderson argues that the sciences don't form a reductive whole -- that chemistry isn't applied physics and psychology isn't applied biology -- taking early aim at the conceits of the uber-reductionist elementary particle Continue Reading …
A Discussion of PW Anderson’s “More is Different”
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of discussing P.W. Anderson's famous 1972 article More is Different as part of a PEL Not School study group on emergence with Not Schoolers Bill Burgess, Casey Fitzpatrick, Ernie Prabhakar, and Evan Gould. Anderson argues that the sciences don't form a reductive whole -- that chemistry isn't applied physics and psychology isn't applied Continue Reading …
Not-School Group on Emergence
There's lots of cool things going on in the PEL Not School discussion groups. To entice those of you that are interested in emergence to come check things out, I've proposed reading and discussing a short, interesting essay by the physicist P. W. Anderson called “More is Different: Broken Symmetry and the Hierarchical Nature of Science”. The essay itself is was originally Continue Reading …