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Downward Causation and Autonomy in Weak Emergence
Open accessAbstract
This chapter offers a definition of the term “emergent” that is relevant to the study of Artificial Life. Since its inception, the field of Artificial Life has consistently referred to the property of “emergent” phenomena as one of its primary distinguishing features. Despite its frequent use in the literature, however, a clear and widely accepted definition of the term “emergent” is yet to be realized. The chapter studies emergence in the realm of an ALife model, and notes the rich history of the concept, which the ALife approach will hopefully expand. The idea of emergence could perhaps be traced to Heraclitus, with his theory of flux; and Anaxagoras, with his theory of perichoresis, which held that all discernible structures in the world are products of a dynamical unmixing process which began with a homogeneous chaos.
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“Finally, an end phenomenon may emerge through multiple, alternate routes.”
From Phenomenal Consciousness and Emergence: Eliminating the Explanatory Gap (2020) · cites this paper as Bedau, 2008
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Cited by
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Phenomenal Consciousness and Emergence: Eliminating the Explanatory Gap
Feinberg, T. E., & Mallatt, J. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01041 · Cited by 78
Metadata
- Authors
- Bedau, M. A.
- Affiliations
- Reed College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bedau, Mark A.
- ORCID
- Bedau, Mark A.
- Venue
- Emergence
- Publisher
- The MIT Press
- Published
- 2008-03-21
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 155-188
- OpenAlex
- W228505724
- Cited by
- 287
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 147.49
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- periodicos.ufsc.br
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- The MIT Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Principia an international journal of epistemology (cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Systems and Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Cellular Automata and Applications
- Keywords
- weak emergence, downward causation, autonomy, artificial life, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, perichoresis
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