What is emergence in philosophy?

Emergence is the appearance of new, real properties at higher levels of organization that don't exist at the lower levels — wetness emerging from H2O molecules, consciousness emerging from neurons. Emergent properties are not reducible to or predictable from the properties of the parts taken individually.

Are humans just atoms?

Yes, in the sense that humans are physical systems obeying the laws of physics. But 'just' atoms misses the point. The same atoms arranged differently produce a rock, a cell, a song, a sense of grief. Sean Carroll's 'poetic naturalism' argues that emergent levels — meaning, love, purpose — are real properties of arrangements, even if no single atom contains them.

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emergence

a single atom of hydrogen is not wet. a single atom of oxygen is not wet. put billions of them together in the right shape and wetness shows up as something real. you can measure it. you can drown in it. wetness is a property of the arrangement, not of the parts.

the same may be true of meaning. a cell does not have purpose. a neuron does not love anyone. but arrange enough of them in the right pattern and the feeling appears, undeniably real. you can be ruined by it. you can build a life out of it. love is a property of the arrangement, not of the parts.

physicist sean carroll calls this poetic naturalism. yes, we are atoms obeying the laws of physics. that's the only level there is. but at every higher level of organization — molecules, cells, brains, languages, songs — new properties emerge that are completely real, even though they don't exist at the level below. there is no level at which 'meaning' lives. meaning lives in the pattern.

we are made of dead matter that has learned to grieve. this is either the smallest fact in the universe or the largest, depending on the hour.

we are made of dead matter that has learned to grieve.

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