Silna emergencja ontologiczna

Abstract

The article addresses the question of how mental events can have causal efficacy. According to the author, if emergent properties exist and influence the behavior of a system, they cannot be treated as epiphenomena, even if there is an empirically adequate description of the behaviors of the underlying microscopic elements. The author introduces the concept of strong ontological emergence, referred to as interdependentism. Interdependentism attempts to explain the relationships between different levels of reality without introducing non-explanatory nonphysical forces or energies. According to the author, interdependentism considers both micro- and macro-level factors, emphasizing the interdependence between them. The existence of higher-order properties depends on the lower-level elements, while processes at the higher level determine the physical functioning of the system's components, thereby co-determining the emergence of higher levels of the system.

Keywords

• emergence
• downward causation
• mind-body problem
• Ellis
• Gillett
• O’Connor