Symmetry between emergentism and immersionism

Symmetry between emergentism and immersionism

Versión en español

Emergentism and immersionism are two symmetrical metaphysical approaches to describe reality.

Symmetry between emergentism and immersionism

In the emergentist approach “material things” (materials), grouped in a certain way, generate individuality (the self). Additionally, the individual experiences the existence of “experiential things”, such as the feeling of cold or love, but this subjective reality is considered an epiphenomenon or even denied (eliminativism).

In the immersionist approach, “experiential things” (experiences), ungrouped in a certain way, generate individuality (the self). Additionally, the individual experiences the existence of “material things”, such as a gold atom or a planet, but this “material reality” is considered an epiphenomenon or even denied (spiritualism).

The hypothesis of the existence of experiences, independently of the individuals who experience them (that is, the hypothesis about the existence of some kind of Sentience Platonism), is analogous and symmetrical to the hypothesis of the existence of the materials, independently of the individuals who experience them.

 

Posted by Manu Herrán

Founder at Sentience Research. Associate at the Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS).

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