emergent evolution

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emergent evolution

n
(Philosophy) philosophy the doctrine that, in the course of evolution, some entirely new properties, such as life and consciousness, appear at certain critical points, usually because of an unpredictable rearrangement of the already existing entities
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.emergent evolution - the appearance of entirely new properties at certain critical stages in the course of evolution
organic evolution, phylogenesis, phylogeny, evolution - (biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms
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References in periodicals archive
Creation and Emergent Evolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 91-4.
Emergence: a biologist's look at complexity in nature
In an essay responding to Jacob Klapwijk's new book on emergent evolution, (5) chemist John Satherley makes an interesting observation concerning the relationship between life and matter: "living things require or make use of 24 of the 91 elements naturally found on Earth." (6) Satherley makes this point in order to emphasize that all of the elements currently organized into biological organisms were at one point inanimate dust.
The spiritual meaning of technological evolution to life
The study of complexity sciences reveals that the world is of hierarchical structure and emergent evolution. Hierarchies or levels are the result of emergence, showing emergence forming a sequence.
Towards complex holism
Stephen Johnson's Emergence (New York: Scribner, 2001) refreshes a theme that Lloyd Morgan's Emergent Evolution (London: Williams & Norgate, 1923) stated long ago; numerous recent recourses to supervenience, and Downward Causation (Oakille: Aarhus University Press, 2000), have rekindled interest in how members of hierarchies interrelate.
Bracken, Joseph, S.J. The One and the Many: a Contemporary Reconstruction of the God-World Relationship
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