Emergent Properties

emergent properties : "properties that do not appear at all until ordinary physical matter has managed to organize itself ... into a system of sufficient complexity." (IP3 282b)

Examples of emergent properties: solid, colored, alive (IP3 282b)

Are mental properties (the property of thinking about the exam, being in pain, experiencing blue, being (psychologically) depressed) emergent?

Some views say yes:

Some views say no:


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Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 29 November 2004