Intellectica, 1997/2, 25, pp. 67-83
Nils A. BAAS* and Claus EMMECHE**
On Emergence and Explanation
1. Introduction : To explain
Living as cognitive beings in a world of stability and change, we permanently face known and unknown situations, old and new phenomena — conversations, happenings, shifting perceptual patterns of the world, but not often true chaos, nor strict regularity. We usually cope with the complexity of ordinary life in a way so easy and by such seemingly simple patterns of behaviour — when seen from the higher level description of ordinary language (or 'folk psychology') — that it is astonishing to realize the underlying
* Department of Mathematical Sciences, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7034 Trondheim, Norway ; and Los Alamos National Laboratory, TSA-DO/SA MS M 997, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA ; and Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe ; NM 87501, USA.
E-mail : baas@math.ntnu.no
** Center for the Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies, Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
E-mail : emmeche@nbi.dk
