Discussion of the paper ‘How emergence arises’ by the ecologist de Haan [102]. De Haan makes a number of suggestions for how we understand what emergence is and how we can distinguish between different types of emergence.
(a) What does deHaan mean by the ‘conjugate’? Do you see the concept as useful. Can you think of examples of conjugates in some different complex systems, such as for example the brain, the economy, ecology?
(b) Do you agree with deHaan that it is beneficial to involve the observer in the analysis of emergence?
(c) Describe in as few words as possible de Haan’s three types of emergence: discovery, mechanistic emergence and reflective emergence.
(d) Do you consider the three types of emergence in (c) as a useful classification and do you find them exhaustive or would you distinguish other types?
(e) Choose a complex system you feel somewhat familiar with. Now use the framework developed by de Haan to write a brief plan for a research project aimed at identifying and analysing the system’s emergent properties.