Reductive levels and multi-scale structure |
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Authors: | Patrick McGivern |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Philosophy, University of Alberta, 4-115 Humanities Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2E5 |
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Abstract: | I discuss arguments about the relationship between different “levels” of explanation in the light of examples involving multi-scale
analysis. I focus on arguments about causal competition between properties at different levels, such as Jaegwon Kim’s “supervenience
argument.” A central feature of Kim’s argument is that higher-level properties can in general be identified with “micro-based”
properties. I argue that explanations from multi-scale analysis give examples of explanations that are problematic for accounts
such as Kim’s. I argue that these difficulties suggest that some standard assumptions about causal competition need to be
revised. |
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Keywords: | Levels Reduction Multi-scale models Composition Physicalism |
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