Complexity

General Definition

In systems science, complexity refers to the number of elements and interactions in a system. In the Ontology of Emergent Complexity, complexity is an immanent property of unstable matter, capable of reorganizing locally without plan or totality. It does not represent disorder, but rather a material regime of unstable coherence, where each component interferes with the whole and the whole, in turn, reconfigures its parts.

Ontological Variations in the Ontology of Emergent Complexity

Complexity As Regime of Emergence

Complexity is neither noise nor excess: it is the minimum regime that allows the emergence of new properties, such as functional coherence, symbolic inscription, or ethical reorganization. It is not a mental condition — it is a material condition.

Functional Complexity Without Representation

Complex systems reorganize based on internal feedback, without language, intention, or representation. Functional complexity already exists before the symbolic. Emergence does not require consciousness: it only requires unstable and iterable organization.

Complexity As Potential for Reorganization

Complexity allows a system to remain unstable without collapsing. It is this coherent instability — or operative excess — that makes local reorganizations with functional value possible. Potential is not ideal: it is the effect of dynamic coupling.

Complexity As Pre-Symbolic Condition

Symbolic inscription only becomes possible when there is a threshold of complexity that sustains relations, iteration, and support. Insufficiently complex systems cannot organize difference or operate memory. The symbolic requires accumulated complexity.