Journal of Philosophical Investigations

Journal of Philosophical Investigations

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Editorial Board

Peer Review Process

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

FAQ

News

Related Links

Reductionism or Emergentism?

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, University of Isfahan, Iran

2 Postdoctoral Researchers in Philosophy, University of Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

The goal of science is to explain reality and the world, and the goal of philosophy is also ontology. Philosophical views on scientific opinions and scientific opinions have had a direct influence on the way of worldview and ontology. Since the early twentieth century, the scientific flow of reduction affects logic and philosophy, psychology and sociology, and even theology and religion. On the other hand, the new emergent flow of emergentism in opposition to reductionism flourished in the late twentieth century. The philosophical and analytical validation of these two seemingly contradictory views promotes the levels of scientific methods and approaches, as well as philosophical views, especially philosophies such as the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of psychology, and the philosophy of sociology. Reductionism is trying to coordinate with unity, realize the unity of sciences, eliminate the waste of scientific theories, and provide the possibility of a stronger justification. On the other hand, emergentism involves the hierarchical plurality of the world's creatures. On the other hand, emergentism involves the hierarchical plurality of the world's creatures which causes the classification of science. Each level and class have its lows, rules, and concepts per se. Reductionism is unable to explain the plurality of facts and levels of existence; But emergentism with its theoretical framework explains both the continuum, unity and multiplicity of reality means the hierarchical plurality of reality. the reduction merely is an essential step in understanding and discovering down-up causality that is used as one of the theoretical concepts of emergentism and somewhat explains the cause of the relationship between the layers of existence. But reduction strategy is not successful in recognizing and explaining the existence of layers and classes of science. Reductions with a priority look at reality are subject to selfish judgment and preference, but in emergentism, reality and ontology determine and identify the methodology and epistemology.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References
Amusoltani Foroushani, M. (2021). Examinig the Relationship between the Soul and Body from the Perspective of Transcendent Wisdom and Emergentism. Research Center for Islamic Theology and Philosophy. (In Persian).
Anderson, P. W. (1972). More Is Different. Science. 177, 393-396.
Antonietti, A. (2010). Emerging Mental Phenomena, Implications for Psychological Explanation, in: Corradini, A. & O’Connor, T. Emergence in Science and Philosophy. pp. 266-287. Routledge.
Archinov, V. & Fuchs, Ch. (2003). Causality, Emergence, Self-Organisation, a publication of the international working group on ‘Human Strategies in Complexity: Philosophical Foundations for a Theory of Evolutionary Systems, NIA-Priroda.
Barth, K. (1979). Evangelical Theology: An Introduction. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Bauchau, V. (2006). Emergence and reductionism: from the game of life to science of life. In Feltz, B., Crommelinck, M. & Goujon, P., pp. 29-40, Selforganization and emergence in life sciences. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Blitz, D. (1992). Emergent evolution: Qualitative novelty and the levels of reality. Episteme 19, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Broad, C. D. (1925). The mind and its place in nature. Kegan Paul, Trench and Trubner.
Bunge, M. (1977). Levels and reduction. Am. l Physiol. 233(3): 75-82.
Camazine, S.; Deneubourg, J.; Franks, N. R.; Sneyd, J.; Theraula G. & Bonabeau, E. (2001). Self-organization in biological systems. Princeton University Press.
Carnap, R. (1934). The Unity of Science. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.
Carnap, R. (1963). Autobiography. The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap, Schilpp, P. A. (ed). Open Court.
Chibbaro, S.; Rondoni, L. & Vulpiani, A. (2014). A Random Journey from Monism to the (Dream of) Unity of Science. In: S. Chibbaro; L. Rondoni & A. Vulpiani (eds). Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality. pp. 21-44. Springer.
Carnap, R. (1967). The Logical Structure of the World and Pseudoproblems in Philosophy. University of California Press.
Clayton, P. & Davies, P. (2006). The Re-emergence of Emergence: The Emergentist Hypothesis from Science to Religion. Oxford University Press.
David, J. (2002). Philosophy of mind. Oxford University Press.
Dawkins, R. (1986). The Blind Watchmaker. Penguin Books.
Dawkins, R. (2006). The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin.
Dawkins, R. (1989). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press.
Dennett, D. (2006). Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Viking Adult.
Drago, A. (2021). From the two Notions of Paradigm and Reduction between Theories to a New Multilinear History of Physics. Advances in Historical Studies. 10, 135-163.
Durkheim, E. (1964 [1915]). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. translated by J. W. Swain. George Allen & Unwin.
Eddington, A. (1929). The Nature of the Physical World. , pages ix–x, The Macmillan Company; The Cambridge University Press.
Faramarz Gharamaleki, A. (2004). Osul va Fonon e Pajuhesh dar Gostareh e Dinpajuhi. Markaz e Modiriat e Howzeh. (In Persian).
Gay, P. (1995). The Freud Reader, 1. W. W. Norton & Co.
Hempel, C. (1966). Philosophy of Natural Science. Prentice Hall.
Hoffmann, R. (1994). The Same and Not the Same. Columbia University Press.
Honderich, T. (ed.) (2005). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press.
Huber, F.; Schnauss, J.; Roenicke, S.; Rauch, P.; Mueller, K.; Fuetterer, C. & Kaes, J. (2013). Emergent Complexity of the Cytoskeleton: from Single Filaments to Tissue. Advances in Physics. 62(1): 1–112.
Juarrero, A. (1998). Causality as Constraint. In Vijver, V. & et al. (eds.), Evolutionary Systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Kauffman, S. A. (2007). Beyond Reductionism: Reinventing the Sacred. Zygon, 42(4), 903-914.
Kauffman, S. A. (2008). Reinventing the sacred: A new view of science, reason, and religion. Basic Books.
Kim, J. (1998). Mind in a Physical World. MIT Press.
Kim, J. (1996). Philosophy of mind. Westview Press.
Thorpe, J. (1974). Reductionism in biology. In: Ayala F. & Dobzhansky T. (eds.). Studies in the Philosophy of Biology. pp. 109-136. MacMillan.
Kricheldorf, H. R. (2016). Getting It Right in Science and Medicine: Can Science Progress through Errors? Fallacies and Facts. Springer.
Kuhn, T. S. (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3rd ed. University of Chicago Press.
Looijen R. C. (2000). Holism and Reductionism in Biology and Ecology. Episteme, vol 23. Springer.
Malrieu, J. P. (1998). Quantum Chemistry and its Unachieved Missions, Journal of Molecular Structure (Theochem). 424, 83–91.
McGinn, C. (1999). The Mysterious Flame: Conscious Minds in a Material World. Basic Books.
McCauley, J. L. (2009). Dynamics of Markets: The New Financial Economics, 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press.
McKenzie, R. H. (2011). Emergence, reductionism and the stratification of reality in science and theology. Scottish Journal of Theology, 64. 211-235. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0036930611000068.
McKenzie, R. H. (2007). Quantum Many-Body Physics: 2D or Not 2D? Nature Physics, 3, 756-758.
Moe, O. W.; Giebisch, G. H. & Seldin, D. W. (2009). Logic of the Kidney. In Genetic Diseases of the Kidney (pp. 39-73). Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-449851-8.00003-6
Montague, G. P. (2012). Who Am I? Who Is She? A Naturalistic, Holistic, Somatic Approach to Personal Identity. Transaction Books.
Morrison, M. (2006). Emergence, Reduction, and Theoretical Principles: Rethinking Fundamentalism. Philosophy of Science, 73(5): 876-887.
Murphy, N. (2010). Reductionism and Emergence a Critical Perspective, Published, in: Murphy, Nancey & Christopher C. Knight, Human Identity at the Intersection of Science, Technology and Religion, Ashgate.
Nagel, E. (1961). The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation. Harcourt, Brace, and World.
Neurath, O. (1983). Philosophical Papers, 1913-1946. Reidel.
Pluhar, E. (1978). Emergence and reduction. St. Hist. Phil. Sci. 9(4): 279-289.
Ricard, J. (2006). Emergent Collective Properties, Networks and Information in Biology. Elsevier.
Sawyer, R. K. (2002). Emergence in psychology: Lessons from the history of non-reductionist science, Human Development; 45, 2–28.
Scott, A. (2004). Reductionism Revisited, Journal of Consciousness Studies. 11(2), 51–68.
Shaik, S. (2007). Is my Chemical Universe Localized or Delocalized? Is there a Future for Chemical Concepts? New Journal of Chemistry, 31, 2015–2128.
Simon, H. (1962). The Architecture of Complexity. Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. 106: 467-482.
Schaefer, H. F. (1996). Odorless Chemistry: A Gentle Reductionist Companion to Experiment. Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society, 43, 109–15.
Soroosh, A. (2013). Mohammad, Ravi e Royahay e Rasoulane. http://www.rahesabz.net/story/71738 (In Persian).
Strenski, I. (2006). Classic Twentieth-Century Theorist of the Study of Religion: Defending the Inner Sanctum of Religious Experience or Storming It. In Thinking About Religion: An Historical Introduction to Theories of Religion. pp. 176–209, Blackwell.
Stephan, A. (2013). Theories of Emergence, Published in: Runehov, A. L. C & Oviedo, L; Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. pp. 714-720, Springer.
Stadler, M. & Kruse, P. (1994). Gestalt theory and synergetics: from psychophysical isomorphism to holistic emergentism; Philosophical Psychology, 7, 211–226.
Weinberg, S. (1993). Dreams of Final Theory. Vintage.
Zatti, M. A. (2016). Soul, Freedom and Truth: Their Relationships with Noetical Algorithmic Incompleteness, NeuroQuantology; 14(3), 567-580.
Send comment about this article
CAPTCHA Image
Journal of Philosophical Investigations
Volume 17, Issue 43 - Serial Number 43
articles
Vol. 17, Issue 43, Summer 2023
August 2023
Pages 89-111
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics