The Question of Emergence in Early Modern Natural Philosophy

Emergentism is the view that complex material composites possess qualities that cannot be reduced to the combination and interaction of the qualities of their constituents. Research of the past two decades has brought to light that the concept of emergent properties was articulated by some ancient thinkers , including Aristotle, Galen, Alexander of Aphrodisias and John Philoponus. Standard wisdom has it that this strand of thoughtafter a period of feeble reception in the middle ages, disappeared in the early modern period, only to reappear in the work of the British Emergentists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The present project aims to show that in sixteenth- and early seventeenth century natural philosophy emergentist option was developed with considerable subtlety; and in many respects it w as an option that is more persuasive than its reductionist and dualist alternatives that become dominant after the advent of the mechanical philosophy. Early modern emergentism will be studied within the context of a field of theoretical controversies that went across what we now would regard as disciplinary boundaries; in the early modern period, however, the theoretical issues involved in medicine and chemistry were regarded as integral parts of natural philosophy. Due to the persistence of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic modes of thought, natural philosophy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries covered the scope of the Aristotelian works devoted to natural particularsPhysics, On the Heavens, Meteorology, On Generation and Corruption, History of Animals, On the Parts of Animals, On the Generation of Animals, On the Soul, and Parva Naturaliaas well as themes prominent in Platos Timaeus and its Renaissance readings. The project will therefore pull together issues in a variety of thematic fields: matter theories (both theories of elements and theories of material compounds), theories of vegetative powers (in particular pharmacological powers and toxicological powers), theories of animal generation, and theories of the nature of animal and human souls. Many of the issues that will be addressed have found virtually no scholarly attention: How did early modern natural philosophers analyze the changes that material composites have to undergo in order for emergence to occur? How did they analyze the causal role that emergent properties and substances play in addition to the causal roles of more basic constituents ? How did they reply to philosophical criticism of the idea that new causal powers could arise in nature? And in which respects did their theories offer more adequate explanations of a range of phenomena than possible theoretical alternatives? 1

Emergentism is the view that complex material objects possess properties that cannot be reduced to the combination and interaction of the properties of their components. Research over the past two decades has brought to light that the concept of emergent properties was articulated by some ancient thinkers, including Aristotle, Galen, Alexander of Aphrodisias, and John Philoponus. The standard narrative of the history of philosophy and science holds that, after a period of weak reception in the Middle Ages, this line of thought disappeared in the early modern period and only reappeared with the British emergentists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The present project aims to show that in the natural philosophy of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the emergentist option was discussed and developed with considerable subtlety. In many respects, it was an option that was more convincing than its reductionist and dualist alternatives, which became dominant after the advent of mechanical philosophy. Early modern emergentism is examined in the context of a field of theoretical controversies that transcends today's disciplinary boundaries. In the early modern period, theoretical questions of medicine and chemistry were regarded as integral parts of natural philosophy. Due to the persistence of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic ways of thinking, natural philosophy in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries encompassed the entire theoretical breadth of Aristotle's works devoted to natural phenomena (Physics, On the Heavens, Meteorology, On Generation and Corruption, History of Animals, Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals, On the Soul, and Parva Naturalia) as well as topics prominent in Plato's Timaeus and its Renaissance interpretations. The project therefore considers problems that are common to a variety of thematic areas. These areas include theories of matter (theories of the elements, mixtures, and complex material substances), theories of vegetative powers (such as digestion and pharmacological and toxicological powers), theories of biological reproduction, and theories of the origin of animal and human souls. Emergent properties discussed in the early modern period include attractive forces between material particles, gravity, metabolism, the transmission of hereditary characteristics in living beings, the effects of drugs and poisons, and mental properties such as perception, memory, imagination, and judgment. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)