"Reduction, Emergence, and Essence"
2009 Summer Seminar Plan and Schedule

The Summer Seminar ran from Monday afternoon, June 15th, through Friday afternoon, June 19th in 1-273. The readings for all sessions are listed below.

Faculty bios: Bernhardt Trout, Lee Perlman, James Navarro, James Barham, Michael Augros, Joseph Audie, John Keck, Mark Ryland.

For photos from last year, see the schedule pages for the 2008 Seminar and 2008 Conference. More photos, as well as proposed t-shirt design, at the Facebook event.

Please see Notes on Session Format, following the schedule.

Monday

3:00-3:30pm

Preliminary Discussion (tea).

3:30-4:30pm

Welcome and Introduction by John Keck:

Overview and Plan of the Summer Seminar:
What Is Reductionism? What is Emergentism?

Reading:

  1. Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII.6.1045a8-10;
  2. Aristotle, Parts of Animals I.1.640b17-641a32;
  3. Immanuel Kant, “Things [Considered] as Natural Purposes Are Organized Beings,” Critique of Judgement, II, § 65. (1790) [PDF];
  4. Anthony Collins, “That it is nothing else but Argumentum ad Ignorantiam” (1707) [PDF];
  5. Thomas Nagel, "Reductionism and Antireductionism," The Limits of Reductionism in Biology (1998) [PDF].

4:30-5:00pm

Break

5:00-6:20pm

Session 1, Lecture by Michael Augros:

The Classical Background to the Controversy

Reading:

  1. Aristotle, Physics I.1;
  2. selections from Thales, Pythagoras, Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Leucippus;
  3. Aristotle, selections from Physics and Metaphysics [PDF].

7:00pm

Dinner gathering for fellowship and discussion.

Tuesday

10:40-12:00n

Session 2, Lecture by James Navarro:

The Modern Background to the Controversy

Reading:

  1. John Locke, "Of Ideas," Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), Bk II selections;
  2. Julien Offray de La Mettrie, “Man a Machine” (1748);
  3. Herbert Spencer, First Principles (1867), §§93–97 [PDF];
  4. Immanuel Kant, "Methodology of the Teleological Power of Judgment," Critique of Judgement (1790), nn. 80-82 [PDF].

 

12:00n-2:00pm

Lunch break

2:00-3:20pm

Session 3, Panel-led Discussion with Michael Augros and Lee Perlman:

Views of Nature, Ancient and Modern

Reading:

  1. Aristotle, Physics I, selections;
  2. Aristotle, Physics II.1;
  3. Aristotle, De Anima II.1;
  4. Rene Descartes, “The Principles of Human Knowledge,” Principles of Philosophy I, nn. 8, 53-54, 63;
  5. Rene Descartes, “On the Principles of Material Things,” Principles of Philosophy II, nn. 1, 4, 23 [PDF].

3:20-3:40pm

Break

3:40-5:00pm

Session 4, Seminar led by Lee Perlman:

Early Thinking on Emergence

Reading:

  1. J.S. Mill, “Of the Composition of Causes,” ch. 6 of System of Logic (1859) [PDF];
  2. G.H. Lewes, “Resultants and Emergents” from Problems of Life and Mind, v. 2 (1875) [PDF].

5:00-7:30pm

Dinner break and unstructured discussions.

Wednesday

10:40-12:00n

Session 5, Lecture-Seminar introduced and led by James Barham:

The British Emergentists

Reading:

  1. C.D. Broad, “Mechanism and its Alternatives,” from Mind & Its Place in Nature (1925) [PDF];
  2. (Optional) Samuel Alexander, “The Order of Qualities,” Space, Time, and Deity, vol. 2 (1920) [PDF].
  3. (Optional) C. Lloyd Morgan, “Emergence,” from Emergent Evolution (1921) [PDF];

12:00n-2:00pm

Lunch break

2:00-3:20pm

Session 6, Lecture-Seminar introduced and led by James Navarro:

Early 20th-Century Concepts of Emergence

Reading:

  1. A.N. Whitehead, “Nature Alive” from Nature and Life (1934) [PDF];
  2. L. Bertalanffy, selections from “An Outline of a General System Theory” (1950) [PDF].

3:20-3:40pm

Break

3:40-5:00pm

Session 7, Lecture-Seminar introduced and led by James Barham:

Holism, Teleology, and Freedom

Reading:

  1. Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution (1921), selections [PDF];
  2. Hans Jonas, two "Didactic Letters to Lore Jonas, 1944," Memoirs [PDF].

5:00-7:30pm

Dinner break and unstructured discussions.

Thursday

10:40-12:00n

Session 8, Lecture by James Barham:

Contemporary Work on Emergence

Reading:

  1. Margaret Morrison, "Emergence, Reduction, and Theoretical Principles: Rethinking Fundamentalism," Philosophy of Science, 73 (December 2006): 876–887 [PDF];
  2. Mary Jane West-Eberhard 2005 "Phenotypic Accommodation: Adaptive Innovation Due to Developmental Plasticity," Journal of Experimental Zoology [PDF].

12:00n-2:00pm

Lunch break

2:00-3:20pm

Session 9, Panel-led Discussion with Michael Augros, and James Barham, James Navarro, and Lee Perlman, moderated by John Keck:

Reductionism and Emergentism and the Classical View of Nature

Reading: Review the texts from previous sessions

3:20-3:40pm

Break

3:40-5:00pm

Session 10, Lecture by Bernhardt Trout:

A Critical Look at Empirical Emergence in Inanimate Nature

Reading:

  1. Francis Bacon, The New Organon (1620), excerpts [PDF];
  2. Laughlin, Pines, Schmalian, Stojkovic, and Wolynes 2000 “The Middle Way,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [PDF].

6:00-8:30pm

Seminar banquet at local restaurant.

Friday

10:40-12:00n

Session 11, Lecture by Joe Audie:

A Scientist Evaluates Emergence in Biology

Reading:

  1. Marc H.V.Van Regenmortel 2004, "Reductionism and complexity in molecular biology," EMBO Reports 5:11, 1016-20 [PDF];
  2. Scott F. Gilbert and Sahorta Sarkar 2000 "Embracing Complexity: Organicism for the 21st Century" Developmental Dynamics 219:1–9 [PDF].

12:00n-2:00pm

Lunch break

2:00-3:20pm

Session 12, Conclusion by Staff:

Summary, Review, and Discussion

3:20-3:40pm

Break

3:40-4:30pm

Examination/evaluations

7:00-8:30pm

Dinner at local restaurant.

Notes on Session Format

Lecture – a formal presentation followed by time for questions

Seminar – a round-table discussion of the reading facilitated by the leader

Lecture-Seminar – a hybrid of lecture and seminar. The leader speaks at the beginning to give background to the reading (history, structure) and set up the focus of discussion. This form is intended to constrain the space of discussion a bit to allow us to have a productive discussion in a short time.

Panel-led discussion – similar to a talking-heads show with audience participation. Perhaps we should describe it as a Socratic dialogue among the leaders, but with the audience (viz., students) also taking part.
 

This page last updated on June 26, 2009