Substance — The Emergent Phenomenon and an Invitation from Physics to Metaphysics

Abstract

The question of emergence complexity which cannot be reduced to that which precedes in nature is one of the most current concerns in multiple contemporary scientific disciplines and in philosophy. The issue of emergence complexity branches out into three basic questions (into the three so–called phases of emergence): whence all things emerge into being, whence life and whence consciousness? Already the first philosophers attempted to comprehend substance and considered substance an object to be studied by physics and metaphysics: this is the first phase of emergence complexity and it encompasses the attempt to grasp substance. However, contemporary science endeavours a reply from the sphere of physics. Furthermore, astonishing features of substance have been discovered which lead us to conclude that its reduction (to one) is not feasible, and that substance and its so–called fundamental level, known heretofore, are complex. This knowledge leads to the conclusion that understanding the material world is an issue of physics and metaphysics, that is, that the emergence concept presupposes and demands understanding on an ontological level. In this sense, it is important to see within a specific feature the conclusions to which the contemporary understanding of substance points. The aim of this paper is to explore the basic features of emergence and complexity, or rather the emergence of complexity, particularly the first phase of emergence and the contemporary understanding
of substance and, based on this insight, to attempt to formulate an answer
to the question: what is substance? If we are indeed dealing with the emergence phenomenon,
what does this mean for our understanding of reality and the emergence
of complexity in general?