148 Pages
5 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
148 Pages
5 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
This book takes the relationship between physics and sociology as its subject, focusing on the philosophical dispute between emergentism and reductionism. It argues that the mystery behind emergence disappears when we abandon the lawful understanding of causality in favor of a powers view.
Adopting a critical realist perspective, it offers a completely novel approach, arguing that the mystery... Read more
1. Introduction
2. Laws and Physicalist Reductionism
3. From Laws to Powers
4. Ontological Emergence Without Mystery
5. One-Off vs. Level Emergence
6. Social Powers, Social Wholes, and Downward Causation
7. Conclusion
Index
Biography
Douglas V. Porpora is Emeritus Professor of Sociology in the Department of Communication at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. He has written widely on politics and social theory, most recently Reconstructing Sociology: The Critical Realist Approach.
