According to strong emergentism, it is a brute fact that higher-level properties (e.g., consciousness, values, etc.) emerge given certain complex structures. In this paper, I will argue that since it is allegedly a brute fact that emergent properties emerge in certain complex systems, they should emerge in anything. Since they do not emerge in anything, they also do not emerge only in certain complex systems. I will apply this argument to consciousness as the primary target, to refute certain views within the philosophy of mind, according to which consciousness is an emergent property that arises only in certain complex aggregates, i.e., brains.
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Eli Haitov (2024) studied this question.
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