The Idea of Evolutionary Emergentism of Joseph Życiński

Abstract

Emergetism is a theory which explains the mechanism of evolutionary development of nature by stipulating that in complex natural systems on the higher levels of complexity there appear some functions and properties that can not be reduced to and accounted for by functions and properties of the lower levels of complexity. It is therefore the theory of emergence – which stands for some special way the complex systems arise (emerge) from a multiplicity of their relatively simply components. The idea of evolutionary emergentism appears in the philosophical writings of Joseph Życiński in the context of a discussion on the possibility of creating a interpretation of evolutionary processes in which biological theory of evolution could be combined in a coherent way with a theological doctrine about God, the creator of the universe. This paper presents the main ideas and opinions Życiński formulated about this theory; the first part of it contains some basic characterization of emergetnism, the second one compares the notions of emergence and of supervenience; the third one concerns some theological interpretation of this two notions.