ABSTRACT

Emergence is the idea that qualitative changes in a system may occur which have characteristics not anticipated by preceding states. Bunge (1977) has argued that emergence is a characteristic of the aggregate of a system; otherwise, each component would be required to have the properties of the whole. In principle, emergence could be accounted for by interaction among the components of a system. The question, then, is what is the emergent property that is explained in this way?