Volume 12, Issue 2, June 2023
Wei Wu

Pages 113-119
https://doi.org/10.5840/tht20256947
Composition as Emergence
The emergentist account of composition says roughly that emergence entails composition. After briefly explaining the basis of this account, I defend it against an objection presented by some nihilists (Cornell in American Philosophical Quarterly 54(1) (2017): 77¨C87; Caves in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 99(1) (2018): 2¨C28), who maintain that a plurality of objects can collectively instantiate emergent properties without composing any further object. I will show that this view risks undermining a central requirement of emergence.