EMERGENCE and REDUCTION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1060 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
Any good understanding of a complex system requires a well integrated understanding of the relationships between emergence and reduction.
Properties of a whole cannot make full sense if not sighted as a global network of interactions between parts , which in turn must be duly considered as such.
A very simple example is the study of water (H$_{2}$0).
Its properties are widely different from those of hydrogen and oxygen. However, the characteristics proper to these molecules (for example their electrons shells) are basic for the understanding of common (or heavy) water. This becomes still clearer when we consider for example the hydrogen atom within the HCl molecule
It is commonly said that the whole is more than its parts.
It is however in a sense also less: as atoms enter in combination , they actualize potentially possible relationships, but also preclude others.
In short emergence and reductionism offer complementary and necessary views and it is a gross mistake to oppose them in an exclusive way.
In this 1996 paper, K. BAILEY offers important insights about the ways we should use what he calls the upward ladder (botom up) and the downward ladder ( top down).