Non-linearity — particularly concerning what is known as emergence and the idea of determinist but non-predictable processes — implies certain paradoxes that lie at the heart of problems raised by recent research in many scientific disciplines, including mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics and computer science. Lucien Sève argues that only dialectical logic, first Hegelian, then Marxist, offers an explanation, which he demonstrates here by confronting the scientific viewpoint with this own philosophical perspective.
This is a fascinating encounter between philosophy and science, and a review of some key notions of contemporary science.

Lucien Sève, a Marxist philosopher, is a member of France’s National Ethics Consulting Committee. He is the author of Une introduction à la philosophie marxiste, Pour une critique de la raison bioéthique and Sciences et dialectiques de la nature.