![]() ![]() Actions and interactions at these levels have been studied extensively, and there is little doubt about the reality of the entities involved (such as molecules and biological cells). The construction can be fully realized with components at the level of chemistry and basic cellular physiology. Importantly, the emergent cause is ontological (related to what exists ‘out there’) and not merely epistemological (related to knowledge and its limitations). ![]() Moreover, the emergence requires sustained evolution by natural selection. The construction depends on a subtle interaction of deterministic and random processes. It shows that an autonomous cause can emerge from a realizable system that is purely material. The constructed system is maximally simplified in order to make it comprehensible and explainable. Are these phenomena indeed completely produced by law-like material interactions? Below it is shown, by construction, that the answer need not be affirmative. Nevertheless, there are puzzling phenomena in living organisms that seem to have a non-material flavour-phenomena such as agency, intentionality, and consciousness. There is overwhelming evidence, nowadays, that physiological and neural systems are fully composed of physico-chemical processes. Similarly, it is clear that living organisms do not contain a mysterious life force, an élan vital, which was assumed by the vitalists. Descartes’s dualism, which assumed that an immaterial mental substance interacts with matter, has become untenable. The material basis of life is understood in increasing detail, and the same goes for the neural basis of mental processes. Are all causes in nature material in the sense of being ultimately equivalent to law-like interactions of matter-energy, in any combination? The success of the natural sciences over the last centuries suggests that this might be true. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |