Morita, Kohei (2026) Universality as Presupposed and Recovered Simplicity. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Critical phenomena are a paradigmatic case of emergence because microscopically different systems display the same macroscopic behavior. However, the universality is not unique to critical phenomena: the ideal gas law also exhibits a form of universality. This paper argues that the key difference lies in how higher-level simplicity is achieved. In the ideal gas law, simplicity is presupposed by strong idealizations built into the lower-level model. In critical phenomena, by contrast, simplicity is recovered through the renormalization group framework. This distinction clarifies why universality alone does not determine whether a case is best understood in terms of emergence or reduction.

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Morita, Kohei kohei.morita@panda.kobe-u.ac.jp 0000-0002-1280-0713
Keywords:	universality, complexity, emergence, reduction
Subjects:	General Issues > Philosophers of Science Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Depositing User:	Dr. Kohei Morita
Date Deposited:	09 Jun 2026 11:31
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2026 11:31
Item ID:	29974
Subjects:	General Issues > Philosophers of Science Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Date:	2026
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29974

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