Emergence, Again

'Emergence' is a totemic word amongst materialists (whether they claim to be "theists" or claim to be 'atheists'); that is, (they believe that) the word has Magickal Powers to solve, by its mere utterance, the logical difficulties of, and contradictions inherent in, materialism.

Earlier today, 'The Deuce' (who really ought to get back to blogging, rather than facebooking) and 'Crude' each made a comment about 'emergence' that I'd like to share with Gentle Reader.

The Deuce: ""Emergence" is one of my big pet peeves too. It's simply a throwaway term. All "emergence" means is "X comes from Y somehow". When a materialist responds to an argument [which shows] that it is logically impossible for X to come from Y by citing "emergence", all they're really doing is reiterating their belief that X comes from Y (the very issue under contention) in spite of any logical difficulties. It's not even a counterargument."

Crude: "Re: emergence, absolutely. I also see the gimmick of 'If you stack all these legos in the shape of a circle, the circle 'emerges' from the lego shapes. See? Now, that's how mind emerges from the brain!'"

Crude's comment neatly captures the essential meaning ascribed to the word 'emergence'.