Note 58 — Chapter XXVII · PARTICULARS AND EVENTS
Reading edition
Dr C. D. Broad, in The Mind and its Place in Nature, lays stress upon what he calls "emergent" properties of complexes—i.e. such as cannot be inferred from the properties and relations of the parts. I believe that "emergent" properties represent merely scientific incompleteness, which would not exist in the ideal physics. It is difficult to advance any conclusive argument on either side as to the ultimate character of apparently "emergent" properties, but I think my view is supported by such examples as the explanation of chemistry in terms of physics by means of the Rutherford-Bohr theory of atomic structure.