The idea of emergent property

Abstract

Those who venture into systems thinking may find difficulties in identifying exactly to what the idea of emergent property refers and what its significance might be. Drawing upon the writings of four major systems thinkers, twelve aspects of emergent properties are identified. Simultaneously, four related epistemological tasks are made explicit. An overall result is that the idea of emergent property is a unifying epistemological concept. More generally, systems thinking may be understood as an epistemological theory, or at least as a theory whose strength lies in its epistemological aspects. Such an understanding is considered in view of the similar concerns and conceptual similarities which systems thinking shares with phenomenology, a consideration which yields two additional aspects of emergent properties. The correspondences seen to exist between systems thinking and phenomenology lead to the conclusion that the two fields taken together illuminate an untapped source for future interdisciplinary research.

Keywords:

• systems thinking
• emergent property
• epistemology
• phenomenology