Aristotle on emergent properties


"Both belong to the mode of causation source of change, for either some natural or some intelligent agent is always the cause; but in this sort of causation the number of possible causes is infinite.
  1. Spontaneity and chance are causes of effects which though they might result from intelligence or nature, have in fact been caused by something incidentally.
  2. Now since nothing which is incidental is prior to what is per se, it is clear that no incidental cause can be prior to a cause per se. 
  3. Spontaneity and chance, therefore, are posterior to intelligence and nature. 
"Hence, however true it may be that the heavens are due to spontaneity, it will still be true that intelligence and nature will be prior causes of this All and of many things in it besides."

  1. [This is sometimes translated differently —where spontaneity is re-presented as 'chance' and chance, as 'luck'… ]
  2. [Similarly, some translate spontaneity (or chance) as 'coincidence' but essentially "Chance (luck) and what results from chance (luck) are appropriate to agents that are capable of good fortune (luck) and of moral action generally. Therefore necessarily chance (luck) is in the sphere of moral actions." from part 6…]
  3. [Furthermore, beginning part 6: "They differ in that spontaneity (coincidence) is the wider term. Every result of chance (luck) is from what is spontaneous (coincidence), but not everything that is from what is spontaneous (coincidence) is from chance (luck)."]
  4. [Moreover, one already would have to have in mind a particular incident that would make a coincident, lucky, before the incident happens.]
  5. [Here, we get to the place of 'magical thinking': When you expect an emergent property to develop, do you have in the back of your mind an expectation —a goal already desired —so that if/when a property emerges you can give an enthusiastic "Ya, sure!" or at the very least "Well, that goal's just as good, right?"]
  6. ["That goal's just as good" becomes a hairy way of doing tech, and by 'hairy' we don't mean 'furry' because hairy 👹 would just be chance while furry 👸 means luck, right, right? 🧚‍♀️]
  7. [If one wants to delve into the practice of substituting words —as though there were a commutative property at play —the number of expressions that may work include kismet, serendipity, fortune, fate, destiny, providence, blessing, grace —all things of a felicitous nature…]
  8. [Of course, there's bad luck implied as well…]



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