A More Explicit Definition of "Emergence"

A well-known account of the word “emergence” goes back to Anderson, but the word is now misused by many scientists. Terms in the natural sciences should be defined not by convention but with clear boundary conditions. Here, drawing on Richard Feynman’s explanation of symmetry, I define the term “emergence” more explicitly, as follows. Emergence is the failure of symmetry to be preserved across quantitative scales.