emergence

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

The phenomenon by which a complex system exhibits properties and behaviours that cannot be predicted from or reduced to the properties of its individual components; the arising of novel, higher-level order from lower-level interactions — 'the whole is more than the sum of its parts'

History and origin

Latin emergere (to rise out of); the concept was articulated in philosophy by J.S. Mill and G.H. Lewes in the 19th century; formalised in complexity science by researchers at the Santa Fe Institute from the 1980s

Examples

• Consciousness is often cited as an emergent property of neural activity — it does not belong to any single neuron.
• The coordinated murmuration of a starling flock is a classic example of emergence with no central control.

Synonyms: emergent properties, emergent behaviour, self-organisation