# Pattern ## According to Dan Dennett According to philosopher Daniel Dennett, a **pattern** is a regularity or structure that emerges from a complex system and can be recognized and described without requiring a complete representation of all the individual components or their interactions. In Dennett’s view, patterns are not intrinsic features of reality but are instead observer-dependent, meaning they exist relative to the perspective and interpretive capabilities of the observer. Dennett discusses patterns extensively in his essay _“Real Patterns”_ (1991). He argues that: 1. **Compression and Description**: A pattern is something that can be described or predicted in a way that is more efficient than listing all the individual details. If recognizing a regularity allows us to compress information while still being accurate, then that regularity constitutes a pattern. 2. **Realness of Patterns**: Patterns are “real” if they can be exploited or recognized to predict phenomena, even if they don’t correspond to a concrete, tangible entity in the world. For example, economic trends, the shapes of constellations, or the “mind” as an emergent phenomenon are patterns, even though they are not strictly material. 3. **Levels of Description**: Patterns often emerge at higher levels of abstraction from the interactions of simpler components. For instance, the behavior of an economy or the weather can be understood as patterns emerging from vast numbers of individual events or entities. 4. **Observer-Dependence**: The reality of a pattern depends on the observer’s ability to detect and use it ([All Observations are Theory Laden](All%20Observations%20are%20Theory%20Laden.md)). For instance, a pattern in data might be real for someone with statistical tools to analyze it, but not for someone without those tools. Dennett uses the example of a chessboard pattern to illustrate this. A chessboard pattern emerges when the squares are arranged in a recognizable configuration, and this pattern can be identified without needing to specify the position of every square individually. However, if one were to zoom in too closely (to the level of the individual pixels in an image of a chessboard, for instance), the pattern would dissolve, emphasizing its emergent and context-dependent nature. --- Date: 20241116 Links to: Tags: References: * [Real Patterns, Dan Dennett](https://ruccs.rutgers.edu/images/personal-zenon-pylyshyn/class-info/FP2012/FP2012_readings/Dennett_RealPatterns.pdf)