Emergence and reduction in chemistry

ontological or epistemological concepts?

Lee McIntyre

pp. 337-343

in: Lee McIntyre (ed), Topics in the philosophy of chemistry, Synthese 155 (3), 2007.

Abstract

In this paper I argue that the ontological interpretation of the concepts of reduction and emergence is often misleading in the philosophy of science and should nearly always be eschewed in favor of an epistemological interpretation. As a paradigm case, an example is drawn from the philosophy of chemistry to illustrate the drawbacks of “ontological reduction” and “ontological emergence,” and the virtues of an epistemological interpretation of these concepts.