Emergence

RELATED TERMS: Heterarchy; Open Systems Theory

The concepts of complexity, emergence and relationality were introduced in 20th century science and philosophy as means of counteracting the effects of positivism and reductionism. They are crucial for understanding the operation of designed outputs as material, semiotic phenomena and therefore important to consider in conceptualisation and design processes.

In a technical sense, in the context of the sciences of complexity, “emergent properties or processes constitute a certain class of higher-level properties or processes related in a certain way to the microstructure of a class of systems.” (Gomes et al., 2007). While there is no unified emergence theory, it may be possible to discern within the diversity of emergence theories a set of common characteristics. For example, emergence theories require a distinction between systemic and non-systemic properties and an assumption of a hierarchy of levels of existence (Gomes et al., 2007).

References

Gomes, A. et al. (2007) ‘Towards the emergence of meaning processes in computers from Peircean semiotics’, Mind and Society, 6 (2), pp. 173–187. doi: 10.1007/s11299-007-0031-9.