Emergent Evolution

One variation on Evolutionary theory that was popular early in the 20th century focuses on the phenomenon called 'Emergent Evolution'. Probably the most interesting proponent of this notion was the unfortunately neglected British philosopher Samuel Alexander. According to him, Emergent Evolution explains the appearance of certain types of quality, a question which was brought to prominence two centuries earlier by Locke. Locke distinguishes between 'primary' and 'secondary' qualities, by locating the former in objects themselves, and the latter in the mind of a perceiver. For example, size and shape are primary qualities, while colors, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures, i. e. the objects of the five senses, are in the mind of the perceiver. The existence of the secondary qualities is not random, for they correspond to certain primary qualities that cause them when being perceived. For example, colors appear in the mind of an observer when the latter is looking at what in the object are certain motions and interactions of minute particles in the object. Alexander rejects this analysis, by arguing that the secondary qualities are properties that 'emerge' in the object itself, independently of the object being perceived. For, such emergence obtains when the motions and interactions of the minute particles achieve a certain configuration in themselves, an achievement that does not require any perceiver. Here, without adjudicating between Locke and Alexander as to the location of the secondary qualities, the judgment is that the process of Emergence fails to qualify as Evolvement. For, the emergence is a product of a Formal Principle, namely the achieving of a certain configuration that obtains amongst the particles, but in itself there is no increase in Complexity, i. e. the difference between color not emerging and its appearance is not due to the introduction of any new particles into the system. In other words, Evolvement distinguishes between novelty that is merely a rearrangement of some given Matter, and that which entails the introduction of novelty into the Matter itself.