Life, consciousness and symbolism: An essay on the natural hierarchy

Abstract

The problem that I present belongs to the philosophy of nature and to metaphysics. That is why nothing I say here contradicts the positive and undeniable facts discovered by science, but is related to the interpretation of such facts and their philosophical extension, that is, with the way in which scientists and philosophers use such data to justify some doctrine. My objective is twofold: first, to expose one of the ways of conceiving the natural hierarchy by making a brief description of the kinds of systems that exist and of the different natural strata; secondly, to propose some observations about the explanation of this hierarchy of systems and strata, placing special emphasis on the causal transition that goes from one stratum to another. This reflection is guided by the ideal of developing an integral naturalism that avoids both the excessive reductionism of materialism and scientism, as well as the too marked separation between the inert and the living imagined by vitalism.