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To familiarize students with recent literature in philosophy on emergence, to examine ways in which insights from complexity science can inform and by informed by more philosophical approaches, and to explore the prospects for developing a concept of emergence that is both scientifically relevant and philosophically coherent.
The rise of the interdisciplinary scientific study of complex phenomena, from anthills to brains to global climate, raises many interesting philosophical questions. What is it for a phenomenon to be complex? Are there methodological approaches that are distinctive to complexity science? This course will provide an overview of these issues, with a focus on two topics in particular.
The first topic is emergence, which has been an important yet elusive concept in the debate over reductionism in both philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. We will explore potential links between emergence and complexity, and whether insights from complexity science can help sharpen the concept of emergence.
The second topic is explanation. We will examine the leading philosophical accounts of scientific explanation and assess the extent to which they capture the way explanation works for complex phenomena. We will also look at the relation between explanation and prediction for complex systems, and how explanation functions against the background of the widespread use of simulations in complexity science.
BA in Philosophy or relevant discipline.
Alan Baker
Seminar.
A seminar is a method of teaching that can include a combination of group work, student contributions, written exercises, group discussions and minor projects.
English
Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science , ed. M. Bedau & P. Humphries, MIT Press, 2008
Weeks 31-34
Several short research reports (both written and oral) and a longer final written project.
