The Human Question

Behe's argument for intelligent design hinges upon the notion of irreducible complexity found in nature. But if you ask. me (uh, nobody did...), what's more interesting than irreducible complexity is irreducible simplicity: that is, the way in which higher level operations are related to lower level operations. Scientists and philosophers who recognize this irreducibility often refer to it as "emergence." Polanyi discusses it in The Tacit Dimension. Aquinas talks about something quite similar as well (especially when he compares how the sensus communis is related to the proper senses). I'll call this characteristic "emergence" without intended to subscribe to any particular explanation of how these higher level powers arise in the first place. Although Behe doesn't mention emergence, the complexity that he calls "irreducible" has a couple of similarities to emergent properties. Both involve a whole that relies upon its many parts...