« Emergence and the nature of levels

Layers and strata

Hartmann makes a strong distinction between four major strata, or planes, of reality (the material, the organic, the mental, and the spiritual), and minor layers within them, of which the typical example are those within the material stratum (atoms, molecules, bodies, etc.) and within the organic stratum (cells, organisms, populations, etc.). While layers are in a relation of over-forming (Überformung) between them, meaning that each one is made with elements of the lower one, strata are in a relation of building-above (Überbauung), meaning that lower strata are a previous condition for the existence of higher ones, but not as their material constituents. Organisms are required for minds to exist, yet minds are not made of organisms [Har40-42; Pol98-01].

Which is, then, the nature of the building-above relationship? This is maybe the most mysterious aspect of emergence. The body-mind relationship, corresponding to the boundary between the organic stratum and the mental stratum, is often cited as a case of strong emergence — when it is not the basis for fully dualistic philosophies; Nicolescu looks for a solution by postulating a quantistic stratum, shared by both subatomic particles and minds [Nic88-06; Pol08b].

A promising clue for understanding the building-above relationship can be found in a book by biologist François Jacob, observing that all major transitions in evolution correspond to the establishment of some mechanism of memory [Jac70]: indeed, the cultural stratum emerges where humans trade the memory of their knowledge through cultural transmission; the mental stratum emerges where the external situation is represented in the consciousness of an individual as percepts and concepts; and even in the organic stratum, the anatomy, physiology, and behaviour of organisms can be seen as a forms of knowledge about their environment, to which they are adapted. Lorenz illustrates this with the examples of the hydrodynamic shape of fishes, viewed as knowledge about the mechanic properties of water in which they have to live; and of the structure of horse hooves, viewed as reflecting the shape of the steppe in which they have to live [Lor73-81]. Thus, building-above can be seen as a representation of patterns of a lower stratum into a new kind of medium.

In a phylogenetic view, each stratum undergoes a different kind of evolution producing its diverse forms: genetic, individual, cultural. Evolution takes place when some replicators can occur in different varieties, which are selected by the pressure of external factors. Genes and ideas (memes) are well-known units of evolution [1-2]. It is less clear what replicators can be in the material stratum, although Prigogine remarks how the traditionally static view of physics can be replaced with one in which new structures progressively appear at a series of bifurcation points [3]. We can thus envisage a framework of the evolution of different "knowledge" forms:

These observations support a view of reality as structured into five strata, each one representing patterns of the previous one in networks of a novel nature:

• form
• matter
• life
• mind
• culture

These five strata correspond more or less to the four ones of Hartmann with the initial addition of form, consisting of abstract logical and mathematical structures; these are described by Hartmann as rather falling in a realm of "ideal being", separated from that of "real being" which includes the other four strata. Indeed, the collocation of logical and mathematical structures is a critical question in any model of the world: many see them only as constructions of the human spirit, hence laying in the mental stratum (like in Kant) or even in the cultural stratum. An ontological approach, instead, can suppose a prior existence of forms independent from the human notion of them: this model was adopted eg by Walter Marvin, who listed the logical-mathematical, physical, biological, mental, human and social strata [Mar1912]. Feibleman also listed three "theoretical" levels, ontological, logical, and mathematical, preceding the "empirical" ones [Fei51]. The reappearance of forms in the higher strata of mind and culture could be explained by an evolutionary epistemology: the notions of number, of logical operations, etc can have evolved in human minds because they are careful representations of the structure of reality, which make them working in everyday life, hence useful for the fitness of the organism. Higher strata can then be viewed as representations of abstract forms, in the sense that they make them real in concrete objects and processes. This is acknowledged intuitively in many KOSs, including Roget's Thesaurus and Dahlberg's Information Coding Classification, by placing the concepts of logic and mathematics at the beginning of the schedules; ILC will do the same.

Other debated issues about strata concern the status of the organic stratum: some, like Popper [Pop72-94] and Poli [Pol98-06], see it as just a part of the material one; and the identity of the highest strata, often described as "social" rather than "spiritual" since Roy Sellars [Sel26-59], and seen by Poli as tangled with the mental one rather than just laying above it [Pol06b; Pol]. Alexander even claimed that the highest level is that of an impersonal "deity" [Ale20-21].

Our list of the strata can be compared with the terminology of philosophers dealing with levels:

The material and living strata can be decomposed quite easily into their layers: eg for Lloyd Morgan matter can be either physical or chemical, while mind can be conscious or reflective; for Hartmann, the spiritual stratum includes personal, objective (social), and objectivated (cultural) spirit. Modern science often acknowledges matter as including subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, celestial objects; and life as including cells, organisms, and biological populations. Layers within higher strata are less immediately identified, but levelled structures are often cited, eg families, clans, cities, nations, and the global community can be listed in the social stratum.

A principle for knowledge organization »

References cited in this section

1: The selfish gene # 2 / Richard Dawkins – Oxford university press : 1989

2: Science as a process : an evolutionary account of the social and conceptual development of science / David Hull – University of Chicago press : 1988

3: From being to becoming : time and complexity in the physical sciences / Ilya Prigogine – Freeman : 1980

Integrative Levels Classification. Philosophy. Integrative levels. Layers and strata / Claudio Gnoli – ISKO Italy : <http://www.iskoi.org/ilc/book/strata.php> : 2009.02.12 - 2010.03.17 -

 

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