Process and Scale. The Concept of Granularity from Emergence to Processes Without Subjects

Abstract

This article highlights the importance of the concept of scale for theories or philosophies of processes. In particular, the concepts of emergence and levels of emergence are compared to those of scale and scalability. The use of scalar concepts, rather than levels, allows for a clearer grasp of some fundamental characteristics of any process ontology. After exploring and defining the main scalar characteristics of processes, the article examines what different philosophical approaches have defined as subjectless processes. Central to this is the concept of granularity, which is applied to processes and allows them to be conceived independently of their specific type and magnitude (biological process, physical process, extended over time, localized, etc.). For this purpose, the article will finally consider the case of processes that cannot be viewed as entities delimited by membranes or clear boundaries, but are instead constituted by a series of events scattered across time and space.