Emergentism: What It Is And How Consciousness Explains This Philosophy
The human mind is something complex to understand, with much of its functioning still a great mystery. An example of this is self-awareness, about which there is very little knowledge and whose study has generated a great diversity of models and perspectives, both on a scientific level from psychology and even on a philosophical level.
One of the many models or theories in this regard is called emergentism which we are going to talk about throughout this article and whose main axiom is the fact that “the whole is more than the sum of the parts.”
It is understood by emergentism a philosophical trend, model or paradigm characterized by consideration that everything that exists, and all the properties of matter (including, in the case of psychology, of the mind and our being) cannot be derived solely from the sum of the elements that compose them, but that arise and evolve from them as an irreducible whole and generating their own laws.
Emergentism arises as a contrast to reductionist theories who consider that reality is explainable from a single type of factors whose sum simply results in the specific phenomenon being analyzed.
It considers that the different phenomena are multi-causal, and that different properties that do not exist in the lower-level components will emerge from each way or level of higher organization. These properties are therefore part of the whole and cannot be explained from the elements that constitute it.
Although there are different emergentist visions and conceptions, most of them share some main elements.
To begin with, one of them is the existence of synergism, or the belief that the properties of matter arise from the cooperation of various elements from whose interaction different properties and new elements arise. These properties and elements are more than the sum of their previous components, and are not reducible or solely derived from them but a new and previously non-existent product.
The fact that new properties emerge that are not reducible to their parts means that, in reality, what emerges cannot be predicted. Despite this, there would be some coherence between complex elements when generating elements over time.
When we link the emergency to the biological, we must also take into account the existence of self-maintenance through reproduction as well as the capacity for self-organization and the ability to adjust to the environment in which living beings live and the demands they have to face.
Two basic types
Emergentism is not a totally homogeneous theory, but within it can be found different positions to understand consciousness or mental states. Two types of emergentism especially stand out: weak and strong emergentism.
1. Weak emergentism
From weak emergentism or innocent emergentism, it is proposed that a hierarchically elevated phenomenon, such as human consciousness, is weakly emergent with respect to a lower domain, appearing from said domain.
This type of emergentism proposes that it is the development of new physical structures which generates the emergence of new capabilities. Thus, the emergence of capabilities is due to physics, considering that we ignore the structures that allow the emergence of higher levels of mastery and this is what prevents us from fully knowing the higher mastery itself or its functioning.
This is a position close to biological reductionism, since although the emergent is more than the mere sum of the parts (it would be a product of the evolution of structures), deep down it is assumed that it is the result of a new structure. That is, in reality it would be assumed that it is a product of a “part”.
2. Strong emergentism
The so-called strong emergentism proposes that a higher phenomenon or domain is highly emergent with respect to a lower domain from which it can emerge, but nevertheless said higher domain cannot be explainable solely from said lower level.
In other words, the process, domain or element in question can be derived in part from pre-existing structures, but it cannot be explained solely on the basis of them, rather its existence exceeds the mere sum of them. In addition to this, it has a way of functioning slightly independent of them. The new is derived from the whole, not being explainable only by the parts that compose it.
An example in the human psyche
Perhaps the previous explanations are difficult to understand as they refer to rather abstract aspects. An easier way to understand this position is to give an example, which also It can help us get closer to the application of emergentism in the field of psychology.
Consciousness, as the text on which this article is based suggests, is a good example of this. However, technically any of the higher mental abilities or even aspects and constructs such as intelligence or personality would serve us well.
In the case of personality, we have that there is a large part of our way of being that comes from genetic inheritance while said inheritance while another of the greatest factors that explain it is our experiences and the learning that we have done throughout our lives. Neither one nor the other completely explains how we behave in real life (if we considered it to be one or the other factor we would be reductionists), and not even their direct sum explains our behavior by itself (being something that emerges from them but is not totally reducible to them).
And the fact is that aspects such as the will or the situation that we are experiencing at the moment, independently of our natural tendency to respond, would also have a connection with it, being aspects that are not merely a sum of biology and experience but rather emerge from their interaction in such a way. way that they can even alter them themselves (our personality and our will can alter our experience, which in turn influences personality).
