Autopoiesis and Cognition The Realization of the Living
This is a bold, brilliant, provocative and puzzling work. It demands a radical shift in standpoint, an almost paradoxical posture in which living systems are described in terms of what lies outside the domain of descriptions. Professor Humberto Maturana,
- PDF / 16,571,118 Bytes
- 172 Pages / 430.866 x 632.126 pts Page_size
- 124 Downloads / 599 Views
BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE EDITED BY ROBERT S. COHEN AND MARX W. WARTOFSKY
VOLUME 42
HUMBERTO R. MATURANA and FRANCISCO 1. VARELA
AUTOPOIESIS AND COGNITION The Realization of the Living With a preface to 'Autopoiesis' by Sir Stafford Beer
D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY DORDRECHT: HOLLAND I BOSTON: U.S.A. LONDON: ENGLAND
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 1928Maturana, Humberto R. Autopoiesis and cognition. (Boston studies in the philosophy of science; v. 42) Bibliography: p. Includes indexes. 1. Biology -Philosophy. 2. Cognition. 3. Life (Biology) joint author. II. Title. III. Series. I. Varela, Francisco J., 1945[574'.01] 79-24724 SOls Q174.B67 vol. 42 [QH331] ISBN-\3: 978-90-277-1016-1 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-8947-4
e-ISBN-\3: 978-94-009-8947-4
Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Boston Inc., Lincoln Building, 160 Old Derby Street, Hingham, MA 02043, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland D. Reidel Publishing Company is a member of the Kluwer Group
Autopoiesis: The Organization of the Living was originally published in Chile under the title De Maquinas y Seres Vivos, © 1972 by Editorial Universitaria S.A. All Rights Reserved Copyright © 1980 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner
EDITORIAL PREFACE
This is a bold, brilliant, provocative and puzzling work. It demands a radical shift in standpoint, an almost paradoxical posture in which living systems are described in terms of what lies outside the domain of descriptions. Professor Humberto Maturana, with his colleague Francisco Varela, have undertaken the construction of a systematic theoretical biology which attempts to define living systems not as they are objects of observation and description, nor even as interacting systems, but as self-contained unities whose only reference is to themselves. Thus, the standpoint of description of such unities from the 'outside', i.e., by an observer, already seems to violate the fundamental requirement which Maturana and Varela posit for the characterization of such systems namely, that they are autonomous, self-referring and self-constructing closed systems - in short, autopoietic systems in their terms. Yet, on the basis of such a conceptual method, and such a theory of living systems, Maturana goes on to define cognition as a biological phenomenon; as, in effect, the very nature of all living systems. And on this basis, to generate the very domains of interaction among such systems which constitute language, description and thinking. The radical shift in standpoint here requires an imaginative lea
Data Loading...
