Redefining emergence: Making the case for contextual emergence in critical realism

Abstract

Emergence is central to critical realism, but there has been little attempt to develop a systematic account of this concept within the tradition. Two notable exceptions are seen in the work of Dave Elder-Vass and Tony Lawson. However, both face problems in responding to reductionist claims and accounting for downward causation. This paper proposes contextual emergence as a robust alternative that overcomes these issues and provides a better justification for critical realism's stratified worldview. Contextual emergence explains that while properties at a lower ‘level’ offer necessary conditions, for emergence to obtain, there must also be contingent conditions at a higher ‘level’. This approach maintains many of critical realism's intuitions about emergence, providing a robust account of ontological stratification and downward causation.