Emergent Processes as Generation of Discontinuities

In this article it's analyzed the problem of emergence in its diachronic dimension, dealing with the generation of novelties in natural processes. The approach aims at integrating some insights coming from Whitehead’s Philosophy of the Process with the epistemological framework developed by the“autopoietic” tradition. The emergence of new entities and rules of interaction (new “fields of relatedness”) does require the development of discontinuous models of change. From this standpoint natural evolution can be conceived as a succession of emergences — each one realizing a novel “extended” present, described by distinct models — rather than as a single and continuous dynamics. This theoretical and epistemological framework is particularly suitable to the investigation of the origin of life, an emblematic example of this kind of processes.