The upper levels on this chart can be considered to supervene on the lower levels.
In philosophy, supervenience refers to a relation between sets of properties or sets of facts. X is said to supervene on Y if and only if some difference in Y is necessary for any difference in X to be possible.
Examples of supervenience, in which case the truth values of some propositions cannot vary unless the truth values of some other propositions vary, include:
Whether there is a table in the living room supervenes on the positions of molecules in the living room.
The truth value of (A) supervenes on the truth value of its negation, (¬A), and vice versa.
Properties of individual molecules supervene on the properties of individual atoms.
One's moral character supervenes on one's action(s).
Supervenience is of interest to philosophers because it differs from other nearby relations, for example entailment. Some philosophers believe it possible for some A to supervene on some B without being entailed by B. In such cases it may seem puzzling why A should supervene on B and equivalently why changes in A should require changes in B. Two important applications of supervenience involve cases like this. One of these is the supervenience of mental properties (like the sensation of pain) on physical properties (like the firing of 'pain neurons'). A second is the supervenience of normative facts (facts about how things ought to be) on natural facts (facts about how things are).
These applications are elaborated below. But an illustrative note bears adding here. It is sometimes claimed[by whom?] that what is at issue in these problems is the supervenience claim itself. For example, it has been claimed that what is at issue with respect to the mind-body problem is whether mental phenomena do in fact supervene on physical phenomena. This is incorrect. It is by and large agreed that some form of supervenience holds in these cases: Pain happens when the appropriate neurons fire. The disagreement is over why this is so. Materialists claim that we observe supervenience because the neural phenomena entail the mental phenomena, while dualists deny this. The dualist's challenge is to explain supervenience without entailment.[citation needed]
The problem is similar with respect to the supervenience of normative facts on natural facts. Discussing the is-ought problem it is agreed that facts about how persons ought to act are not entailed by natural facts but cannot vary unless natural facts vary, and this rigid binding without entailment might seem puzzling.
The possibility of "supervenience without entailment" or "supervenience without reduction" is contested territory among philosophers.
In philosophy, supervenience refers to a relation between sets of properties or sets of facts. X is said to supervene on Y if and only if some difference...
"metaphysical or logical combination of properties" using the notion of supervenience: A property A is said to supervene on a property B if any change in...
The principle of moral supervenience states that moral predicates (e.g., permissible, obligatory, forbidden, etc.) supervene upon non-moral predicates...
work on mental causation, the mind-body problem and the metaphysics of supervenience and events. Key themes in his work include: a rejection of Cartesian...
Reductionism – Philosophical view explaining systems in terms of smaller parts Supervenience – Relation between sets of properties or facts The central science –...
modal realism". In Preyer, G.; Siebelt, F. (eds.). Reality and Humean Supervenience: Essays on the Philosophy of David Lewis. Studies in Epistemology and...
present, the same predicate applies. According to the principle of moral supervenience, moral properties of actions (obligatory, permissible, forbidden, etc...
supervenient; i.e., secondary to the underlying reality. Several layers of superveniency[clarification needed] are possible. Chemical properties can be used...
pp. 188–89, 191ff. Bolender, John (1998), "Factual Phenomenalism: A Supervenience Theory"', Sorites, no. 9, pp. 16–31. Berlin, Isaiah (2004), The Refutation...
pressure Specific heat capacity Physical property Strength of materials Supervenience List of thermodynamic properties "ISO 80000-1:2022 Quantities and units...
Davidson uses the thesis of supervenience: mental states supervene on physical states, but are not reducible to them. "Supervenience" therefore describes a...
Berlin Virtual Library. 2004. Bolender, John. Factual Phenomenalism: a Supervenience Theory, in SORITES Issue #09. April 1998. pp. 16–31. Phenomenalism at...
psychologists largely agree that the brain in some sense causes behavior (see supervenience)); whether the mind is "hard-wired" enough for evolutionary investigations...
These include debates about the Zombie Argument, and physicalism and supervenience in the philosophy of mind. Many debates in the philosophy of religion...
culture and methodology Superorganism – Group of synergistic organisms Supervenience – Relation between sets of properties or facts Swarm intelligence –...
(principle of causality) Proximate and ultimate causation Quidditism Supervenience Philosophy of mind Synchronicity Statistics Causal loop diagram Causal...
world when we are in it. Lewis also defended what he called Humean supervenience, a counterfactual theory of causation, and contributed to abstract object...
mind Problem of mental causation Property dualism Specious present Supervenience Qualia Walter, Sven. "Epiphenomenalism". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy...
properties are reducible or stand in some metaphysical relation (such as supervenience) to entirely non-ethical properties. Most ethical naturalists hold that...
Qualia", The Philosophical Quarterly 32: 127-136. Kim, Jaegwon. (1993) "Supervenience and Mind", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. MacLaughlin, B. (1992)...
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