Reduction and Emergence in Physics
from MCMP – Philosophy of Science
Sebastian Lutz (MCMP/LMU) and Karim Thébault (MCMP/LMU) give a talk at the CAS Research Focus Series „Reduction and Emergence“ (13 November, 2013) titled "Reduction and Emergence in Physics" (host: Stephan Hartmann (MCMP/LMU)). Abstract: Matter is composed of small elementary particles whose behavior is predicted very accurately by modern physics. This has led to the suggestion that the fundamental theories of physics are ‘theories of everything’, since in principle they describe the evolution of all matter in the universe. But does the behavior of molecules, magnets and proteins really reduce to that of quarks, gluons and electrons? It often rather seems that the phenomena that occur at larger scales and with more complex systems are genuinely novel and hence emergent. We will examine these philosophical questions and draw philosophical morals with regard to the nature of modeling from the debate.
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