Abstract

In this chapter I address the emergentist credentials of two different forms of staunch hylomorphism: uniformism and pluriformism. In the first section I introduce staunch hylomorphism and identify five features held by its exponents. In section two I distinguish uniform from pluriform versions of staunch hylomorphism. In the third section, I present three varieties of emergentism and employ them to evaluate the emergentist credentials of these two forms of staunch hylomorphism. In the fourth section, I present the basic features of Carl Gillett’s theory of scientific strong emergentism and in section five I turn to examine the staunch hylomorphic credentials of Carl Gillett’s scientific strong emergentism. I argue Gillett’s rich account of emergent entities and their “machretic determinations” is strikingly similar to the claims made by staunch hylomorphism. I conclude with some reasons why machretic strong emergentism should embrace staunch hylomorphism’s realism about forms.