Emergence,Evolution, and the Geometry of Logic: Causal Leaps and the Myth of Historical Development

After sketching the historical development of “emergence” and noting several recent problems relating to “emergent properties”, this essay proposes that properties may be either “emergent” or “mergent” and either “intrinsic” or “extrinsic”. These two distinctions define four basic types of change: stagnation, permanence, flux, and evolution. To illustrate how emergence can operate in a purely logical system, the Geometry of Logic is introduced. This new method of analyzing conceptual systems involves the mapping of logical relations onto geometrical figures, following either an analytic or a synthetic pattern (or both together). Evolution is portrayed as a form of discontinuous change characterized by emergent properties that take on an intrinsic quality with respect to the object(s) or proposition(s) involved. Causal leaps, not continuous development, characterize the evolution of human life in a developing foetus, of a thought out of certain brain states, of a new idea (or insight) out of ordinary thoughts, and of a great person out of a set of historical experiences. The tendency to assume that understanding evolutionary change requires a step-by-step explanation of the historical development that led to the appearance of a certain emergent property is thereby discredited.     

《太上八景四蕊紫浆五珠降生神丹方》外丹黄白研究

《太上八景四蕊紫浆五珠降生神丹方》与外丹黄白之关系,学界迄今未有详论。此经大约于晋哀帝时出世,而且该经事实上给出了目前已知最早的火药配方雏形。不仅如此,它还首次在丹药的炼制中获得了游离态的单质砷结晶、获得了“彩色金”,同时也是最早制得硫酸亚汞的丹方之一,而等比数列的描述和放大镜的应用,也都为该经添色不少。因此,无论在火药发明史、单质砷和“彩色金”炼制史,抑或在数学和光学发展史上,该经都具有重要意义。