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Levels of Reality – Inductively?

Towards an Inductive Theoryof Levels of Reality

Łukasz LamżaThe Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow,

Poland

'The Whitehead Metaphysical Society

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Plan

1. Introduction and philosophical background (1 slide)

2. Methodology (7 slides)

3. Results (8 slides)

4. Discussion (1 slide)

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Introduction

■The complexification of Nature as a starting point.(from static structure to dynamic 'structurization':if Nature exhibits some sort of structure, it is historical)

■Some related issues in philosophy:philosophy of science: intratheoretical reduction;philosophy of nature: emergence in causality;ontology: ontological emergence, levels of reality.

■Possible relationships between scientific results and philosophy.

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Methodology

■Method in general:a) list all natural phenomena;b) group according to historical and causal

relationships;c) check for patterns.

■Obvious problem no. 1:there is no 'list of all natural phenomena'

Solution:use bibliographic databases as a first proxy(‘all that exists’ -> ‘all that is talked about’)

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Methodology

■PACS® 2008: Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme 2008

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Methodology

■PACS® 2008: Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme 2008

■ Ca. 9000 entries■ Hierarchical structure (max. 5 levels)■ Scope (1st level categories):

10 Elementary particles and fields20 Nuclear physics30 Atomic and molecular physics

40 Electromagnetism. Optics. Acoustics. Heat transfer. Classical Mechanics. Fluid Dynamics50 Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges60 Condensed matter: I70 Condensed matter: II80 Interdisciplinary physics (incl. Chemistry, Rheology, Biological

physics, Materials science etc.)90 Geophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Methodology

■PACS® 2008: Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme 2008

■Hierarchical structure:

90. Geophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics 91. Solid Earth physics 91.50 Marine geology 91.50.Cw Beach and coastal processes

20. Nuclear physics 26. Nuclear astrophysics 26.20 Hydrostatic stellar nucleosynthesis 26.20.Fj Stellar helium burning

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Methodology

■PACS-related problems:From bibliographic categories to natural entities‘Physico-centrism’

> focus on everything up to the rise of biological systems

■General problems of quantitative studies of natural complexification:What is an ‘object’?What is an 'unbalanced view' of complexity?

(Why is the emergence of a new kind of animal, e.g. human, more important than the emergence of a new kind of chemical substance?)

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Methodology

?

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Methodology

■The final list of 'natural objects':349 level-3 PACS categories, e.g.

13.15 Neutrino interactions23.60 Alpha decay36.20 Macromolecules and polymer molecules44.25 Natural convection52.30 Plasma dynamics and flow61.30 Liquid crystals73.25 Surface conductivity87.17 Subcellular structure and processes98.20 Stellar clusters and associations

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Results

■The scheme of natural history used:

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Results

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Results

1. Natural complexification is both localized and inhomogeneous:

114 'objects' (33% of all objects) appear within the Big Bang – and are inherited by all of physical space – but the rest is confined to certain locations (e.g. 14 objects [4%] are present only in planetary atmospheres and hydrospheres).

There are multiple 'chemistries' or 'mineralogies', just like there are multiple ‘geologies’: the development of any group of objects follows different paths in different places.

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Results

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Results

2. Natural complexification is episodic.There are 4 major episodes of intensive complexification:

Big Bang [32,6%]Gaseous envelopes of evolved stars [15,4%]Protoplanetary disks [21,8%]Young solid-surface planets [14,0%]

Together: 83,8% of all complexification in just 4 short episodes.

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Results

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Results

3. Natural complexification does not follow any rigid 'group hierarchy'.

some 'astrophysical' phenomena rely on 'nuclear' phenomena

[e.g. envelopes of supernovae are heated mostly through radioactive decay]

some 'nuclear' phenomena rely on 'astrophysical' phenomena

[e.g. most heavy nuclei form only in stars above certain mass]

some 'chemical' phenomena rely on 'macro-physical' phenomena

[e.g. certain chemical reactions occur only on solid surfaces]

some 'macro-physical' phenomena rely on 'chemical' phenomena

[e.g. many rheological phenomena occur only in certain chemically-defined materials]

a dramatic example: our ‘discovery’ of superconductivity

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Results

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Results

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Discussion

■Future developments:Universal Decimal Classification (better

representation of non-physical disciplines);methods of assessing 'importances' of natural

groupings;

possibility of making the project less philosophically naïve? (ontological decisions?)

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Levels of Reality - Inductively?

Thank you for your attention!

Łukasz Lamża

The Pontifical University of John Paul II

The Whitehead Metaphysical Society

email: lukasz.lamza@gmail.com