The Human Question

This is a rough sketch of a still foggy idea: One might think that emergence is a materialist position (a kind of trickle up theory).  But the only way in which the highest organisms can arise is through an openness to being.  And once one grants such openness, one also opens the door to analogy of being.... and the fullness of being. Furthermore, emergence of higher level operations is definitely not the mere increase in complexity.  Nor is it the kind of simplexity/whatever discussed in chaos theory (although these may be integral to it): at the highest level, it's intentionality, a kind of unity in multiplicity that is other directed.  And intentionality implies the being of what is intended.  Once one thinks in terms of being, it's very hard to avoid thinking about Being as in Supreme Being. Emergence is incomplete, because it's about operations, whereas what I'm looking for is something more basic... something called being.... as in operation follows ...

Actually, in The Faith of a Physicist, he lists four properties of modern physics brought up by Barbour. The first is the developmental nature of the universe, the second is the intertwining of chance and law; and the third is wholeness and emergence. The footnote lists other works that discuss these same properties (the last two have to do with biology, which is what I'm interested in): Bartholemew 1984 God of Chance Polkinghorne 1986 One World Polkinghorne 1988 Science and Creation Prigogine 1980 From Being to Becoming Prigogine and Stengers 1984 Order out of Chaos Peacocke 1979 Creation and the World of Science Peacocke 1986 God and the New Biology Must look into the last two...