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Introduction to Anticipation Studies pp 121–138Cite as

Process, Cause, and Emergence

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Part of the book series: Anticipation Science ((ANTISC,volume 1))

Abstract

This chapter introduces the categories of causation and process – which together with whole and time constitute the fragment of general ontology that I can presently consider. On their basis, the theory of levels of reality, the categorical scaffolding of emergence, is sketched.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Already at the dawn of the twentieth century, Brentano thoroughly discussed impersonals – at that time analyzed in detail from a linguistic point of view by Miklosic  – and developed a metaphysics of substance , as well as a logic, a mereology, and a general psychology based on the category of substance and able to include the situations linguistically represented by impersonals (Albertazzi, 2006; Poli, 1998, 2004) . A second example is provided by the ontology of Nicolai Hartmann , which includes both the category of process and the category of substance , although they are presented according to an order of relevance that is opposite to the traditional one. For Hartmann the category of process is one of the central categories of the sphere of real being – together with time and causation  – while the category of substance plays a secondary role limited to the level of physical and biological entities (Poli, 2012). These two exemplifications show that the categories of substance and process are far from being contradictory and, if suitably characterized, may coexist within the same ontological framework.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and social research, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Roberto Poli

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  1. Roberto Poli
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Poli, R. (2017). Process, Cause, and Emergence. In: Introduction to Anticipation Studies. Anticipation Science, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63023-6_7

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