ABSTRACT
In evolution, the idea of emergence has been resisted by those who consider it a metaphor for entelechy or élan vital. The problem is that the emergent step does not lend itself to analysis. Can an emergent system have causal properties? Presumably, if we knew all there was to know of a particular state, what appears as an emergent from this state could be explained or predicted on a quantitative basis. For example, when ice melts to water and then vaporizes to steam, each appears as a different qualia but occurs on a continuum of physical change. Are emergents really “resultants” awaiting physical explication? ln evolutionary theory the question of emergence is difficult to assess. It is not even clear what would be required to confirm or disconfirm the idea.
