Citations of:
The metaphysics of downward causation: Rediscovering the formal cause
Zygon 48 (2):380-404 (2013)
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The causal closure of physics is usually discussed in a context free way. Here I discuss it in the context of engineering systems and biology, where strong emergence takes place due to a combination of upwards emergence and downwards causation. Firstly, I show that causal closure is strictly limited in terms of spatial interactions because these are cases that are of necessity strongly interacting with the environment. Effective Spatial Closure holds ceteris parabus, and can be violated by Black Swan Events. (...) |
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How does God govern the world? For many theists “laws of nature” play a vital role. But what are these laws, metaphysically speaking? I shall argue that laws of nature are not external to the objects they govern, but instead should be thought of as reducible to internal features of properties. Recent work in metaphysics and philosophy of science has revived a dispositionalist conception of nature, according to which nature is not passive, but active and dynamic. Disposition theorists see particulars (...) |
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As there is currently a neo-Aristotelian revival currently taking place within contemporary metaphysics and dispositions, or causal powers are now being routinely utilised in theories of causality and modality, more attention is beginning to be paid to a central Aristotelian concern: the metaphysics of substantial unity, and the doctrine of hylomorphism. In this paper, I distinguish two strands of hylomorphism present in the contemporary literature and argue that not only does each engender unique conceptual difficulties, but neither adequately captures the (...) |
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This article proposes to reflect on the promises of synthetic biology through fieldwork carried out in 2014–15 with a group of bioartists in Helsinki, Finland. It narrates the author’s experience of three one-week gatherings leading to the production of a piece titled Your Synthetic Future, an ironic apparatus appearing as an oracular machine. This reflection leads us to understand that the true originality of synthetic biology resides in its ability to breach the once clear and impenetrable frontier that has kept (...) |