As noted above, the fact that phenomena at higher levels of mechanisms depend upon the organization of component parts entails that the properties/activities of wholes are not simple sums of the properties/activities of the parts. Levels of mechanisms can thus be contrasted with levels of mere aggregation. Because the whole is greater (in this sense) than the sum of the parts, some (such as Wimsatt) have found it appropriate to describe this as a kind of emergence. Mechanistic (or organizational) emergence thus understood is ubiquitous and banal but extremely important for understanding how scientists explain things.