Classification of emergence and its relation to self-organization

Julianne D. Halley, David A. Winkler

Research output: Contribution to journalReview ArticleOther

89 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Emergence is a difficult concept to describe clearly. It has been characterized in the literature in a number of ways, none of which are easy to understand or describe clearly how other concepts in complex systems science are related to emergence. We provide a simple, clear description, and classification of emergence in terms of self-organization. This provides a framework for understanding how concepts such as thermodynamic equilibrium, nonlinearity, and computability are related to emergence. 

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10-15
Number of pages6
JournalComplexity
Volume13
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2008
Externally publishedYes

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