The strong emergence of molecular structure

Abstract

One of the most plausible and widely discussed examples of strong emergence is molecular structure. The only detailed account of it, which has been very influential, is due to Robin Hendry and is formulated in terms of downward causation. This paper explains Hendry’s account of the strong emergence of molecular structure and argues that it is coherent only if one assumes a diachronic reflexive notion of downward causation. However, in the context of this notion of downward causation, the strong emergence of molecular structure faces three challenges that have not been met and which have so far remained unnoticed. First, the putative empirical evidence presented for the strong emergence of molecular structure equally undermines supervenience, which is one of the main tenets of strong emergence. Secondly, it is ambiguous how the assumption of determinate nuclear positions is invoked for the support of strong emergence, as the role of this assumption in Hendry’s argument can be interpreted in more than one way. Lastly, there are understandings of causation which render the postulation of a downward causal relation between a molecule’s structure and its quantum mechanical entities, untenable.

The Problem of Molecular Structure Just Is the Measurement Problem

“…Therefore, our proposal greatly impacts how one understands the shift from resultant to configurational Hamiltonians. Nevertheless, it does not offer a complete answer to the entire problem as we do not address the in-practice issues (see, for example, Seifert [2020b]).…”

Chemistry's Metaphysics

“…In this context, the crucial question becomes whether an adherence to any of these interpretations allows one to adopt a more parsimonious view of chemical ontology that does not require positing distinct ontologies (as per ontological pluralism) or downward causal powers (as per strong emergence). 69 Another interesting result produced by Franklin and Seifert's thesis is that we need to distinguish between isolated and non-isolated systems when discussing how systems relate to their constituents (2020: 2; also Seifert 2020Seifert , 2022a. The case of structure is quite revealing of this as certain quantum physical interpretations suggest that structure may not be instantiated by isolated molecules; it only arises after interaction with some environment.…”