Functional reduction and emergence in the physical sciences

Alexander Rueger

pp. 335-346

in: Max Kistler (ed), New perspective on reduction and emergence in physics, biology and psychology, Synthese 151 (3), 2006.

Abstract

Kim’s model of ‘functional reduction’ of properties is shown to fail in a class of cases from physics involving properties at different spatial levels. The diagnosis of this failure leads to a non-reductive account of the relation of micro and macro properties.