Emergence

According to (Checkland 1999, p. 314), Emergence  is “the principle that entities exhibit properties which are meaningful only when attributed to the whole, not to its parts.” 


(replace by Cilliers etc 2005 if not acceptable)


Questions that arise from this definition include: What kinds of systems exhibit emergence? Under what conditions do they exhibit emergence? Are emergent properties predictable? Can emergent properties be planned?


http://www.sebokwiki.org/index.php/Emergence

Explaining emergence in language can be complex, it occurs perhaps best by example, for me  its always in potentially inclusive situations when I notice that subliminally I had been (perhaps objectifying) and excluding a "section" or aspect of the environment (inner and outer), judging it as irrelevant or not good enough  when i start to accept it (perhaps for its potential) there appears to be a shift or movement in the system, the whole thing seems to evolve in a positive direction- that's what it means to me...

eg Sunlight on a Wall

One  example of emergence  is sunlight dancing on a wall... a common occurence you may be able to see around you now, and yet the combination of sun, wall, interference from plants/trees and the position of the subject all combine to create the unique experience...

The post structural concerns itself with the uniqueness of the subjects position and this affects the experience yet it is the whole system of light, wall, plant and subject position that enable the experience to happen.





Example 1 : Canopy Rorscharch

Example 2 : Canopy Church (At night)

Example 3 :   Treelight

The experience represented by this photo occured in the context of a random journey I took recently, a combination of the position I was stood in, the sun, a spider's web and  some resin from the tree led to the apperance of a diamond like a bright light shining from the centre of the trunk.  

(the awareness of such emergent qualities/experiences and openness/access to them may relate to appreciative judgement (Vickers) , the  relationship of appreciative judgement  to hegemony  is of interest (Gramsci) ?) (to mix theory and topic)
This leads us to a positive angle on  the issue of frames (c.f Schon and Rein), what appreciative openings do we have/allow? (c.f. inclusive value/comparative value )

... to see, to value, and to respond to situations in familiar ways that, while they last, exclude the power to see other possibilities (ibid, p. 

69).  Vickers 1995

„...a set of readiness to distinguish some aspects of the situation  rather than others and to classify and value these in this way rather than in that‟ (ibid, p. 82).