Universität Wien

180061 SE Ontological and Epistemological Emergence (2021W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
REMOTE

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Digital: online course

  • Tuesday 12.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 19.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 09.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 16.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 23.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 30.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 07.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 14.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 11.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 18.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 25.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This is an advanced introduction to the notion of emergence, and its place and role in contemporary philosophy of science. The course provides an overview of the current theories of emergence, linking them to several important philosophical notions such as physicalism, holism, and multiple realizability. The relations between scientific and philosophical conceptions of emergence are discussed, using some scientific examples as illustrations. The course focuses especially on emergence in biological sciences. Having taken this course, the student has a good overview of the various notions of emergence, understands different scientific examples of emergence, and is able to follow and participate in the philosophical discussion of emergence.

Assessment and permitted materials

- careful reading and active discussion of the literature
- questions in the Moodle platform
- active discussion in the Moodle platform
- (co-)chairing group discussion in the class
- final essay

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria:

- active participation (20%),
- questions and online discussion of readings (20%),
- (co-)chairing a class (10%),
- final essay (50%).
All aforementioned components of the course have to be fulfilled for the successful completion of the grade.

One unexcused absence is permitted.

Grading table
1 – (excellent) 90 – 100 points
2 – (good) 81 – 89 points
3 – (satisfactory) 71 – 80 points
4 – (sufficient) 61 – 70 points
5 – (insufficient) 0 – 60 points

Examination topics

The course has a final essay in English, to be submitted after the course. The instructions are given in the syllabus (Moodle), and in the class.

Reading list

Readings (will be available in Moodle )

Humphreys, Paul. 2019. “Emergence.” In The Oxford Handbook in Philosophy of Science, edited by Humphreys, Paul. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199368815.013.38

Kim, Jaegwon. 2006. “Emergence: Core Ideas and Issues.” Synthese 151: 547–559.

Chalmers, David. 2006. “Strong and Weak Emergence.” In The Re-Emergence of Emergence, edited by Philip Clayton and Paul Davies 244-256. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

El-Hani, Charbel, and Sami Pihlström. 2002. “Emergence Theories and Pragmatic Realism”. Essays in Philosophy 3 (2).

Wimsatt, William. 2007. “Emergence as Non-aggregativity and the Biases of Reductionisms.” In Re-Engineering Philosophy for Limited Beings: Piecewise Approximations to Reality, 274-312. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Dupré, John. 2021. The Metaphysics of Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapters 1-4)

Kauffman, Stuart, and Philip Clayton. 2006. “On Emergence, Agency, and Organization.” Biology and Philosophy 21 (4): 501–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9003-9.

Bich, Leonardo and Luisa Damiano. 2008. “Order in the Nothing: Autopoiesis and the Organizational Characterization of the Living.” In Physics of Emergence and Organization, edited by Ignazio Licata and Ammar Sakaji, 339- 370. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.

Montévil, Maël 2018. “Possibility Spaces and the Notion of Novelty: From Music to Biology.” Synthese, 96:4 555–4581.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:18