The Threads of Emergence workshop organised by Phoebe Page, Senior Lecturer Philosophy ran at the Arnolfini on 25th – 26th May. The workshop was an interdisciplinary event with a range of speakers from across Europe with different specialisms including anthropologists, artists, philosophers and philosophers of science, and scientists.
The workshop aimed to examine the concept of emergence in a collaborative manner since the concept is used in a variety of different fields to describe novel behaviours, entities, and processes that are irreducible to the systems they are dependent upon.
Broadly speaking, ‘Emergence’ means the introduction of something ‘new’ within a system or environment that cannot be reduced or explained by the system prior to the emergence arising. Emergence is a concept used within a range of fields, from philosophy, the sciences, economics, ecology, art, and so on.
The workshop featured both research presentations and ‘roundtable discussions’ where the group actively analysed emergentism and produced diagrams and written statements of the groups assessment of the issues examined in the workshop.
The workshop set the back drop for an new international collaborative research project featuring some of the attendees and new members.
A second event is being planned to take place at RWTH Aachen 2024. You can find out more by visiting the website www.threadsofemergence.com