Summary and Concepts: Nothing Precedes the Emergence
Summary of Key Points
Criticism of Precedence The text dismantles the
logic that "for there to be B, there must be A". In complex emergence, B can arise without A containing it in
power.
Irruption vs. Succession Distinguish two modes
of time: succession (where the future repeats the past) and irruption (where the new nullifies the previous rule).
The Failure of Philosophy Blame tradition
philosophy (from Plato to Derrida) of never having thought of the "beginning" without linking it to a "condition of
possibility."
Event Ontology It proposes that the real
it is made of pure events, not eternal substances. What exists is what happens, and what happens
There is no guide.
Concept Map
The emergence visualized as a vertical cut in the timeline, with no previous cause.
Essential Definitions
Radical Emergence
The appearance of properties or entities that cannot be deduced from their conditions
initial nor reduced to its parts.
Precedence
The causal logic that requires that the effect is already contained in the cause (e.g. the seed contains the
tree). OCE rejects this for complexity.
Event
An event that changes the rules of the game. It is not just something that occurs within the system, but
something that redefines the system itself.
Irruption
The way the new appears: sudden, discontinuous and without prior justification. The opposite of
"gradual evolution".
