The Physics of Emergence (Second Edition)

It is not unusual among particle physicists to find the belief that elementary particles and forces (or quantum fields) determine everything in physics, chemistry, biology, geology, physiology all the way up to human behavior. It is not just that physics underlies everything in the universe; it is the belief that everything in the universe reduces to the play of elementary particles under forces. Yet, there are other physicists who argue that this is an oversimplified view of physics and an oversimplification of the relationship between physics and other domains such as biology and psychology. This book explores these diverse debates and proposes a physics-motivated conception of emergence that leaves behind many of the problematic intuitions shaping the philosophical conceptions. It examines cases in physics that appear to support the two sides of the debate by focusing on detailed examples from physics. Stability conditions play a particularly important but underappreciated role in understanding the physics of emergence.

This new edition adds a chapter introducing the renormalization group, with a discussion of its relationship to the contextual emergence pattern such as interactions on all distance scales. Other chapters are expanded upon to cover updates in the field, as well as examinations of Peter Atkins and John A. Wheeler's views on reductionism and emergence of laws of physics.

This book would be suitable for physicists, scientists, undergraduate and postgraduate science students interested in reduction and emergence debates.