Strong emergence and downward causation in biological physics

Abstract

The methodological lens of physics within the realm of biology creates the interdisciplinary field of Biological Physics: a fruitful one with which to explore the idea of Strong Emergence. Examples of emergent entities are found in: e.g. protein assembly within cell membranes, gene expression from external cell signalling, topological interaction of DNA and topoisomerase enzymes. The flow of information (itself determined by constraints) is urged as an indicator for downward causation. Strongly emergent structures carry information at high (larger scale) level that is not constituted by the sum of information at low (smaller scale) levels. Biological physics throws empirical light on the metaphysical question of downward causation without having to broach the additional complexities and contested qualities of the mental. 114 T. C. B. McLEISH