Beyond emergence

learning from Dooyeweerdian anthropology?

Lydia Jaeger

pp. 231-253

in: Gerrit Glas, Jeroen De Ridder (eds), The future of creation order 1, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

In dialogue with Gerrit Glas' contribution to this volume, this chapter interacts with two clusters of concepts of emergence, drawing on Dooyeweerdian insights in order to provide a thorough critique of them and to provide an alternative proposal. It starts from the concept of emergence as used today in analytical philosophy of mind, discussing Jaegwon Kim's critical work on emergence, Philip Clayton's emergentist "ontological monism," and non-reductive physicalism. Drawing on Dooyeweerd's modal aspects, I conclude that this type of emergence cannot fulfil the promise of providing a satisfactory non-reductive view. The chapter then discusses a concept of emergence used in the context of phenomenology and developed by a group of philosophers inspired by Francisco Varela. Proponents of this second approach share some concerns with a Dooyeweerdian-inspired critique of analytical emergence, but their explicit stance against creation leads them to develop co-emergence in accordance with Buddhist "emptiness." This chapter then examines Dooyeweerd's refusal of mind−body dualism, linked to his rejection of the concept of substance and "logos speculation." Based on the biblical warrant for the role of the divine Logos in creation, I conclude, over against Dooyeweerd, that the concept of substance can be redeemed and that a minimal form of dualism is necessary in order to account for the Bible's teaching about humans. Adopting a realist reading of the multidimensionality of human existence uncovered by Dooyeweerd's modal aspects analysis, we arrive at a truly non-reductionist view of human nature, which the two forms of emergence examined here aimed at but could not provide.

Cited authors

Varela Francisco

Clayton Philip

Kim Jaegwon

Glas Gerrit