Franklin, Alexander and Robertson, Katie (2024) Emerging into the Rainforest: Emergence and Special Science Ontology. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Scientific realists don't standardly discriminate between, say, biology and fundamental physics when deciding whether the evidence and explanatory power warrant the inclusion of new entities in our ontology. As such, scientific realists are committed to a lush rainforest of special science kinds (Ross (2000)).

Viruses certainly inhabit this rainforest -- their explanatory power is overwhelming -- but viruses' properties can be explained from the bottom up: reductive explanations involving amino acids are generally available. However, reduction has often been taken to lead to a metaphysical downgrading, so how can viruses keep their place in the rainforest?

In this paper, we show how the inhabitants of the rainforest can be inoculated against the eliminative threat of reduction: by demonstrating that they are emergent. According to our account, emergence involves a screening off condition as well as novelty. We go on to demonstrate that this account of emergence, which is compatible with theoretical reducibility, satisfies common intuitions concerning what should and shouldn't count as real: viruses are emergent, as are trout and turkeys, but philosophically gerrymandered objects like trout-turkeys do not qualify.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Franklin, Alexander alexander.r.franklin@kcl.ac.uk 0000-0001-6034-4575 Robertson, Katie katie.robertson@stir.ac.uk 0000-0002-0645-0761
Additional Information:	Forthcoming in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Keywords:	Emergence Reduction Ontology Rainforest Screening Off Autonomy Novelty
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Depositing User:	Dr Alexander Franklin
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2024 17:13
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2024 17:13
Item ID:	24132
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Date:	October 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24132

Available Versions of this Item

• Emerging into the Rainforest: Emergence and Special Science Ontology. (deposited 19 Nov 2021 04:54)
  • Emerging into the Rainforest: Emergence and Special Science Ontology. (deposited 31 Oct 2024 17:13) [Currently Displayed]

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