CAUSATION (Downward)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 382 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
D.T. CAMPBELL introduced this concept in the following way: “Where natural selection operates through life and death at a higher level of organization, the laws of the higher-level selective system determine in part the distribution of the lower-level events and substances. Description of an intermediate-level phenomenon is not completed by describing its possibility and implementation in lower-level terms. Its presence, prevalence or distribution (all needed for a complete explanation of biological phenomena) will often require reference to laws at a higher level of organization as well… All processes at the lower level of a hierarchy are restrained by and act in conformity to the laws of the higher levels” (1976, p.87).
Since the higher levels were as well somehow constructed from bottom up, the following comment from R.N. ADAMS seems important: “That characterization… somewhat obscures the self-organizing quality of the process. The issue is more one of control than of causation; and it is not simply ”downward“ since it also involves the feedback from the subassemblages to the center” (1988, p.153).