The dominant position in Philosophy of Science contends that downward causation is an illusion. Instead, we argue that downward causation doesn’t introduce vicious circles either in physics or in biology. We also question the metaphysical claim that “physical facts fix all the facts.” Downward causation does not imply any contradiction if we reject the assumption of the completeness and the causal closure of the physical world that this assertion contains. We provide an argument for rejecting this assumption. Furthermore, this allows us to reconsider the concept of diachronic emergence.

中文翻译：

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发育和癌症生物学中的物理主义和向下因果关系

科学哲学中的主导地位认为向下的因果关系是一种错觉。相反，我们认为向下的因果关系不会在物理学或生物学中引入恶性循环。我们还质疑“物理事实解决所有事实”的形而上学主张。如果我们拒绝这个断言所包含的物理世界的完整性和因果封闭性的假设，那么向下的因果关系并不意味着任何矛盾。我们为拒绝这一假设提供了一个论据。此外，这使我们能够重新考虑历时出现的概念。