The Causal Version of Emergentism Concerning the Property of Qualitative Consciousness

Document Type : Professional

Author

Abstract

In the first section of this paper, the property of qualitative consciousness is briefly discussed. In the second section, the thesis of ontological emergentism concerning properties is considered and its conceptual characteristics are studied. Systemacity, novelty, having novel causal powers, functional irreducibility, and dependency upon the basal level are distinguished as characteristics of emergent properties. In the third section, the causal version of emergentism is introduced and some of its criticisms are briefly discussed. Since it seems that the causal version can account for the dependency of emergent properties upon the basal level as well as their causal efficacy in a proper way, and since the property of qualitative consciousness possesses the conceptual characteristics of emergent properties, this property is regarded as emergent in the conclusion.

Keywords

References

1.      خوشنویس، یاسر، (1387) تحلیل نظریه نوخاسته‌گرایی وجودشناختی و کاربرد آن در مسئله ذهن و بدن، پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، گروه فلسفه علم، دانشگاه صنعتی شریف.
 
2.      Armstrong, D., M., (1983) What is a Law of Nature?, Cambridge University Press.
3.      Block, N., (1978) “Troubles With Functionalism”, reprinted in Block, N. (ed.), Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology, vol. 1, pp. 268-305,  Harward University Press, 2006.
4.      Chalmers, D. J., (1996) Conscious Mind, in Search of a Fundamental Theory, Oxford University Press.
5.      Clayton P.,  (2006) “Conceptual Foundations of Emergence Theory”, in Clayton P. & Davies P. (eds.), The Re-Emergence of Emergence, The Emergentist Hypothesis from Science to Religion, pp. 1-31, Oxford University Press.
6.      Hasker, W,. (1999) The Emergent Self, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
 http://php.indiana.edu/~toconnor/philosophical_essays.html.
7.      Humphreys, P., (1997a) “Emergence, Not Supervenience”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 64, pp. S337-S345.
8.      ـــــــــ , (1997b) “How Properties Emerge?”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 64, pp. 1-17.
9.      ـــــــــ , (2006) “Emergence”, in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (ed.) Borchert D., New York: Macmillan, online edition: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~pwh2a/.
10.    Jackson, F., (1982) “Epiphenomenal Qualia”, Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 32, pp. 127-36, online edition: philosophy2.ucsd.edu/~rarneson/Courses/FrankJacksonphil1.pdf.
11.    Kim, J., (1992) “Downward Causation in Emergentism and Nonreductive Physicalism” in Beckermann, A., Flohr, H. and Kim. J., Emergence or Reduction? Essays on the Prospects of Nonreductive Physicalism, pp. 49-93, Berlin: de Gruyter.
12.    ـــــــــ , (1999) “Making Sense of Emergence”, philosophical Studies, vol. 95, pp. 3-36.
13.    ـــــــــ , (2003) “Supervenience, Emergence, Realization, Reduction”, in Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics, Oxford University Press.
14.    ـــــــــ , (2006b) “Emergence: Core ideas and issues”, Synthese, vol. 151, pp. 547-559.
15.    ـــــــــ , (2007) “The Causal Efficacy of Consciousness”, in Velman, M. and Shneider, S., pp. 406-417.
16.    Kripke, A.S., (1986) [1972], Naming and Necessity, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
17.    Lowe, E. J., (2000) “Causal Closure Principle and Emergentism”, Journal of Philosophy, vol. 75, pp. 571-585.
18.    Nagel, T., (1974) “What is Like to Be a Bat”, reprinted in Block, N. (ed.), Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology, vol. 1, pp. 159-168,  Harward University Press, 2006.
19.    O’Connor, T., (1994) “Emergent Properties”, American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 31, pp. 99-104.
20.    O'Connor, T. & Jacobs, J., (2003) “Emergent Individuals”, Philosophical Quarterly, Online Edition: http://php.indiana.edu/~toconnor/philosophical_essays.html.
21.    O'Connor, T. & Wong H.Y., (2005), “The Metaphysics of Emergence”, Online Edition:
22.    ـــــــــ , (2006) “Emergent Properties” in Zalta, E. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, online Edition: http://php.indiana.edu/~toconnor/philosophical_essays.html.
23.    Shoemaker S., (1980) “Causality and Properties”, in Causality, Identity and Mind, pp. 206-233, Oxford University Press.
24.    Silberstein, M. and McGeever, J., (2002) “The Search for Ontological Emergence”, Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 49, No. 195, pp. 182-200.
25.    Stephan, A., (1999) “Varieties of Emergence”, Evolution and Cognition, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 50-59.
26.    Van Gulick, (2005) “Consciousness”, in Zalta, E. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, online edition: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/.
27.    Velman, M. and Shneider, S. (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness, Blackwell Publishing.
28.    Wong, H.Y., (2006) “Emergents from Fusion”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 73, pp. 345-367.
 

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics