libterm.com Global supervenience describes a philosophical concept where the properties of an entire system depend on the properties of its parts, ensuring that no change in the whole occurs without a corresponding change in its components. This concept is crucial in discussions about the relationship between mind and body, ethics, and metaphysics. Discover how global supervenience shapes your understanding of complex systems by exploring the rest of the article.
Table of Comparison
| Aspect | Global Supervenience | Strong Supervenience |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Properties of a whole depend on properties of its parts across all possible worlds. | Properties depend on parts within the same possible world, ensuring necessity across similar parts. |
| Scope | Applies to entire possible worlds. | Applies to individual objects within possible worlds. |
| Dependency Type | Holistic, global-level dependency. | Local, object-level dependency. |
| Implication | Indiscernibility of worlds by supervenient properties. | Indiscernibility of objects by supervenient properties within worlds. |
| Use in Philosophy | Explains broad metaphysical relations, e.g., mental to physical. | Used in analyzing identity and necessity of objects. |
Introduction to Supervenience in Philosophy
Supervenience in philosophy addresses the dependence relationship between sets of properties, where global supervenience asserts that any two worlds identical in base properties must be identical in supervenient properties at the level of entire possible worlds. Strong supervenience strengthens this claim by requiring that within any single world, if two objects share all base properties, they must also share all supervenient properties, making it a more localized and object-based condition. Understanding this distinction is crucial for metaphysical discussions on the hierarchical dependence of mental, moral, or physical properties and their correlation across possible worlds versus within individual worlds.
Defining Global Supervenience
Global supervenience is a philosophical concept indicating that the properties of a whole system depend entirely on the distribution of properties within its parts across all possible worlds, such that any two worlds identical in their local properties must be identical in their global properties. It differs from strong supervenience by requiring this dependence across entire possible worlds rather than just within individual or subsets of regions. Defining global supervenience involves specifying that no change in global properties occurs without a corresponding change in the local base properties, emphasizing a holistic dependence structure.
Understanding Strong Supervenience
Strong supervenience refers to a relationship between sets of properties where any two objects that are indiscernible in terms of base properties must also be indiscernible in terms of target properties within the same possible world. Unlike global supervenience, which considers variations across all possible worlds and entire domains, strong supervenience emphasizes this dependency within individual worlds, ensuring no local counterexamples exist. Understanding strong supervenience is crucial in metaphysics and philosophy of mind for analyzing property relations and conceptual dependencies in a rigorous, world-specific context.
Key Differences Between Global and Strong Supervenience
Global supervenience requires that if two possible worlds are identical in all subvenient properties, they must be identical in the supervenient properties, emphasizing whole-world comparisons. Strong supervenience stipulates that within a single world, any two objects identical in subvenient properties must share the supervenient properties, focusing on object-level relations. The key difference lies in global supervenience applying across entire possible worlds and strong supervenience applying within worlds to individual objects or entities.
Historical Development of Supervenience Concepts
The historical development of supervenience concepts traces back to mid-20th century analytic philosophy, with Donald Davidson's work on mental-physical relations laying foundational ideas for both global and strong supervenience. Strong supervenience emerged as a refinement specifying that properties in one domain necessarily depend on subvenient properties across all possible worlds, emphasizing a rigorous necessity condition. Global supervenience, by contrast, involves holistic dependencies of properties across entire worlds without requiring this necessity in each individual case, reflecting a more flexible framework developed through subsequent metaphysical debates.
Examples Illustrating Global vs Strong Supervenience
Global supervenience asserts that any two possible worlds identical in all physical respects cannot differ in their mental properties, such as two worlds with identical physical laws exhibiting the same mental states across all individuals. Strong supervenience refines this concept by focusing on individual-level instances, meaning that if two individuals share identical physical properties, their mental properties must also be identical, as illustrated by identical twins showing equivalent cognitive traits despite varying environmental factors. An example highlighting the difference is that global supervenience supports mental property determination by entire world states, while strong supervenience demands a point-by-point correspondence between physical and mental properties in individual entities.
Significance in Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind
Global supervenience asserts that if two possible worlds are indiscernible with respect to physical properties, they must be indiscernible in all other properties, underscoring the holistic dependency of mental or ethical properties on physical ones in metaphysics. Strong supervenience emphasizes the necessity that given a particular domain, no two objects identical in physical properties differ in mental or non-physical properties, reinforcing strict property dependence central to philosophy of mind debates. The distinction informs discussions on reductionism, dualism, and the possibility of multiple realizability, shaping theories about how mental states relate to physical states.
Arguments Supporting Global Supervenience
Global supervenience asserts that any difference in the global distribution of properties entails a difference in corresponding supervenient properties, reinforcing a holistic understanding of dependency relations. This approach avoids problems faced by strong supervenience, which only considers local or individual cases, by capturing the totality of property distributions across possible worlds. Arguments supporting global supervenience emphasize its ability to account for complex interdependencies in systems such as physicalism, where global configurations determine mental or moral properties without reductionism.
Criticisms and Challenges to Strong Supervenience
Strong supervenience faces criticisms for its rigid dependence criterion, which struggles to accommodate cases of multiple realizability where higher-level properties may arise from distinct lower-level bases. Critics argue that it imposes a strict necessity relation that fails to capture the variability and complexity seen in natural phenomena, challenging its applicability in metaphysical and scientific contexts. Furthermore, the lack of explanatory power in distinguishing dependence relations beyond mere correlation poses significant challenges to the robustness and utility of strong supervenience as a philosophical framework.
Conclusion: Implications for Contemporary Philosophy
Global supervenience implies that the overall distribution of physical properties determines all higher-level properties, while strong supervenience requires this dependence at the level of individual objects. The distinction influences debates in philosophy of mind and metaphysics by shaping how researchers understand the relationship between mental and physical states or between base and supervenient properties. Recognizing these differences helps clarify arguments about reductionism, emergentism, and physicalism in contemporary philosophical discourse.
Global supervenience Infographic
