Are chemical isomers emergent?

Ross H. McKenzie (noreply@blogger.com)
In discussions of emergence, particularly in chemistry, isomers are often given as an example of an emergent phenomenon. In Anderson's original "More is Different" article, he discussed the chirality of sugar molecules as an example of symmetry breaking. More recently, isomers (and the associated concept of molecular structure) are invoked to justify contentious claims about strong emergence and downward causality. Here, I explain what isomers are and consider whether they are emergent in the se