The Mechanisms of Emergence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8089568 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R Keith Sawyer (University of Washington) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 260-282 |
| Publication date | 2004-05-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy of the Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0048-3931 • E-ISSN: 1552-7441 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0048393103262553 |
| OpenAlex | W2152554793 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 58 |
| References cited | 64 |
This article focuses on emergence in social systems. The author begins by proposing a new tool to explore the mechanisms of social emergence: multi agent–based computer simulation. He then draws on philosophy of mind to develop an account of social emergence that raises potential problems for the methodological individualism of both social mechanism and of multi agent simulation. He then draws on various complexity concepts to propose a set of criteria whereby one can determine whether a given social mechanism generates emergent properties, in the sense that their explanation cannot be reduced to a mechanistic account of individuals and their interactions. This combined account helps to resolve the competing claims of methodological individualists and social realists. The author’s conclusion is that the scope of mechanistic explanation may be limited due to the extreme complexity of many social systems
Epistemology · Individualism · Mechanism (biology · Methodological individualism · Political science · Scope (computer science · Set (abstract data type · Social complexity · Social ontology · Social science · Social system · Sociology · Computer Science · Critical Realism in Sociology · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Philosophy and History of Science · Law · Philosophy
Emergence of human resilience in coastal ecosystems under environmental change
Logik der Situation, Definition der Situation, framing und Logik der Aggregation bei Esser und Luhmann
Mechanism-Based Causal Analysis
Complex Systems Research in Educational Psychology
Political culture research
Yuan‐Sheng dialectical holism and systems thinking
Revisiting emergence in emergent leadership
Conservative solutions for progress
Pfade, Mechanismen, Ereignisse. Zur gegenwärtigen Forschungslage in der Soziologie sozialer Prozesse
Transintentionale Mechanismen sozialer Selbstorganisation
Morphogenesis and Social Networks
Max Weber und die Emergenz. Ein Programm eines nicht-reduktionistischen Individualismus
Morphogenesis and Cooperation in the International Political System
Human Evolution beyond Biology and Culture
Variables, Mechanisms, and Simulations
Mentality as a Social Emergent
Social Emergence
Dissecting the Social
Status, cognitive overload, and incomplete information in advice-seeking networks
Conceptualizing climate change awareness as a complex system
The emergence of social order in everyday interacting
The emergence of domination
Complejidad de los Sistemas Sociales
What Is Methodological Individualism? Anatomy of a Controversy
Ontology, a Mediator for Agent-Based Modeling in Social Science
Disordered selves
The Darwinian Multilevel Selection of Constitutionalism as a Societal Structure
Overcoming theory-practice inconsistencies
The emergence of agropastoralism
In Search of Mechanisms. The Role of the Agent-Based Model in connecting Analytical Sociology and Classical Social Research
Past, Present, and Future of Complex Systems Theory in Archaeology
Actions, interactions and structure in the emergence of educational stratification
Explaining global governance—a complexity perspective
Interaction Dynamics Predict Successful Negotiation in Divorce Mediation
Ontogenesis Versus Morphogenesis Towards an Anti-realist Model of the Constitution of Society
Conceptual definition of technology emergence
Theorizing the Mechanisms of Conceptual and Semiotic Space
Generative Explanation and Individualism in Agent-Based Simulation
The Realist Approach to Explanatory Mechanisms in Social Science
Systemism, Social Mechanisms, and Scientific Progress
Sawyer’s Theory of Social Causation
Emergence in Sociology
Are ABM explanations in the social sciences inevitably individualist
A naturalist approach to social ontology
Forms of emergent interaction in General Process Theory
A prototypical conceptualization of mechanisms
Can Mechanisms Really Replace Laws of Nature
The disappearing desert and the emergence of agropastoralism
The Habitus Process
Reclaiming the Human Stratum, Acknowledging the Complexity of Social Behaviour
Analytical Sociology and Its Critics
Meaning and Modularity
The Structure of Causal Chains
Agent-based models and methodological individualism
Progrès et « urgence » de la modélisation en sociologie. du concept de « modèle générateur » et de sa mise en Œuvre
Mechanisms as Miracle Makers? The Rise and Inconsistencies of the "Mechanismic Approach" in Social Science and History
On the connection between agent-based simulation and methodological individualism
The Relational Ontology of Amartya Sen's Capability Approach
Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences
Growing Artificial Societies
The Principles of Scientific Thinking
The Origins of Order
The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration
Mechanisms and the nature of causation
Psychological Predicates
Dynamics of Contention
Realist Social Theory
Research on Social Interaction and the Micro-Macro Issue
Methodological Relationism
Theorizing the Mechanisms of Conceptual and Semiotic Space
Nonreductive Individualism Part II—Social Causation
Mechanism and Explanation
The Conditions of Fruitfulness of Theorizing About Mechanisms in Social Science
Special sciences (or
Thinking about Mechanisms
Role Functions, Mechanisms, and Hierarchy
Aggregativity
Interlevel Experiments and Multilevel Mechanisms in the Neuroscience of Memory
Commentary
Multiple Realization and the Metaphysics of Reduction
Nonreductive Individualism
Toward a General Theory of Action
Holistic Thought in Social Science
Historical Explanation in the Social Sciences
Microfoundations, Method, and Causation
The Realist Image in Social Science
A Realist Theory of Science
The Sociology of Georg Simmel
How Does It Work
Fact and Method
Structural Social Psychology and the Micro-Macro Problem
The Interaction Order Sui Generis
Emergent Sociality
Unresolved Tensions in Sociocultural Theory
Artificial Societies
From Factors to Actors
Durkheim's Dilemma
Emergence in Sociology
Manifesto for a Relational Sociology
On the Microfoundations of Macrosociology
| Unique citing works | 58 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,64 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 57 |