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Macro- versus Micro-Determinism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

R. W. Sperry
R. W. Sperry*
Affiliation:
Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology
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Abstract

Most readers will agree with the starting assumptions of Klee (1984) that contemporary science and philosophy assume a primarily micro-deterministic view of nature–and that this has long been the case, or was at least until the 1970s. (As I will explain later, I think such an assumption has been open to question since the mid-1970s.) Defending a strict micro-determinism, Klee argues that concepts of emergence that seemingly are opposed to micro-determinist doctrine can be shown, on analysis, to be ultimately consistent with a thoroughgoing philosophy of micro-determinism. An exception is made, however, in the case of my own view, labeled “direct macro-determinism,” which he describes as “ultimately more troublesome” but then disposes of as being based on “simplistic analogies” and “metaphors” and “too weak to be conclusive.”

Information

Type
Discussion
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , June 1986 , pp. 265 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association 1986

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Footnotes

†

I thank Dr. William A. Rottscheafer for calling my attention to the Klee article in his letter of August 29, 1984, and Dr. Jenny Yates-Hammett for helpful suggestions regarding earlier drafts of the manuscript.

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