Emergence in Mind

There have long been controversies about how it is that minds can fit into a physical universe.Emergence in Mindpresents new essays by a distinguished group of philosophers investigating whether mental properties can be said to 'emerge' from the physical processes in the universe. Such emergence requires mental properties to be different from physical properties, and much of the discussion relates to what the consequences of such a difference might be in areas such as freedom of the will, and the possibility of scientific explanations of non-physical (for example, social) phenomena. The volume also extends the debate about emergence by considering the independence of chemical properties from physical properties, and investigating what would need to be the case for there to be groups that could be said to exercise rationality.

Cynthia Macdonald is Professor of Philosophy at Queen's University Belfast and Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Graham Macdonald is Distinguished International Fellow in the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen's University Belfast and Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.