Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

And there is at least the possibility of a deeper emergence, through such things as eco-systems, the biosphere, human culture and human societies. We noted the facts of emergence already accepted by science. We also noted that the search for what is termed ‘strong emergence’ — that is, emergence at more complex levels — is still on. The search for deep structures and patterns of which we already see hints in nature — from the spirals of galaxies to the growth of plants, shells and animal bodies. No doubt more will be understood of these in time, and there’s no reason that our new knowledge will contradict what is already known. These bigger types of emergence may have a ‘downwards causation’ on things below them, such as individual creatures. It could be that the combined activities (both physical and mental) of individual beings together form a wholeness, which is more than the sum of its parts. Hence, things could be seen from the bottom up, as it were, as well as the top down. A spirituality without the supernatural — if that is not too much of a contradiction in terms.

The sensation progression, as discussed above, likewise has a certain ‘reciprocity’. On the one hand, consciousness must exist before quality and value can emerge (bottom up). On the other hand, quality and value exist prior to consciousness — if indeed ‘prior to’ has any meaning here — (top-down).

Thus, our strictly non-religious, strictly not supernatural, Aristotelian soul! Body plus mind plus way of being in the world. The features of deep emergence noted above replicate, on a

287