Science and philosophy are beset by many mysteries. But in recent years,many thinkers have resorted to the idea of ‘emergence properties’ as a sufficient explanation for many puzzling phenomena: Properties that emerge as a result of interacting components within a system, but properties that do not belong to any individual within that system. Hence, consciousness can arise from unconscious matter, and free will can arise from particles that have no will or agency. Cognitive scientist Derek Cabrera explains how the concept of emergence gets abused and can open the back door to lazy mysticism.

At the HowTheLightGetsIn London 2023 Festival taking place September 23^rd/24^th, Philip Goff, Eleanor Knox, and Hilary Lawson will debate whether ‘Emergence’ is a valid way of explaining anything.

Emergence, the enigma that captures the essence of system behaviour, often leaves us marvelling over its surprising outcomes. Emergence takes place when the dynamic interactions among the parts of a system give rise to properties or outcomes that would be absent if the parts acted in isolation. The idea of emergence is often summarized in the misleading trope that, “the whole is greater than its parts.” But let's set the record straight and debunk this popular myth: the whole is always equal, never greater, than its parts.