Two themes, in counterpoint, are the motif of this book. The first one is the autonomy exhibited by systems in nature. The second one is their cognitive, informational abilities.
These two themes stand in relation to one another as the inside and the outside of a circle drawn in a plane, inseparably distinct, yet bridged by the hand that draws them.
Autonomy means, literally, self-law. To see what this entails, it is easier to contrast it with its mirror image, allonomy or external law.
Author(s): Francisco J. Varela
Series: North Holland series in general systems research
Publisher: Elsevier Science Ltd
Year: 1979
Language: English
Pages: 328
Tags: Systems Biology, Cybernetics
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
PART I AUTONOMY OF THE LIVING AND ORGANIZATIONAL CLOSURE
Chapter 1 Autonomy and Biological Thinking
1.1 Evolution and the Individual
1.2 Molecules and Life
Chapter 2 Autopoiesis as the Organization of Living Systems
2.1 The Duality Between Organization and Structure
2.2 Autopoietic Machines
2.3 Living Systems
Chapter 3 A Tesselation Example of Autopoiesis
3.1 The Model
3.2 Interpretations
Chapter 4 Embodiments of Autopoiesis
4.1 Autopoietic Dynamics
4.2 Questions of Origin
Chapter 5 The Individual in Development and Evolution
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Subordination to the Condition of Unity
5.3 Plasticity of Ontogeny: Structural Coupling
5.4 Reproduction and the Complications of the Unity
5.5 Evolution, a Historical Network
Chapter 6 On the Consequences of Autopoiesis
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Biological Implications
6.3 Epistemological Consequences
Chapter 7 The Idea of Organizational Closure
7.1 Higher-Order Autopoietic Systems
7.2 Varieties of Autonomous Systems
PART II DESCRIPTIONS, DISTINCTIONS, AND CIRCULARITIES
Chapter 8 Operational Explanations and the Dispensability of Information
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Purposelessness
8.3 Individuality
Chapter 9 Symbolic Explanations
9.1 Descriptive Complementarity
9.2 Modes of Explanation
9.3 Symbolic Explanations
9.4 Complementary Explanations
9.5 Admissible Symbolic Descriptions
Chapter 10 The Framework of Complementarities
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Distinction and Indication
10.3 Recursion and Behavior
10.4 Nets and Trees
10.5 Complementarity and Adjointness
10.6 Excursus into Dialectics
10.7 Holism and Reductionism
Chapter 11 Calculating Distinctions
11.1 On Formalization
11.2 Distinctions and Indications
11.3 Recalling the Primary Arithmetic
I 1.4 An Algebra of Indicational Forms
Chapter 12 Closure and Dynamics of Forms
12.1 Reentry
12.2 The Complementarity of Pattern
12.3 The Extended Calculus of Indications
12.4 Interpreting the Extended Calculus
12.5 A Waveform Arithmetic
12.6 Brownian Algebras
12.7 Completeness and Structure of Brownian Algebras
12.8 Varieties of Waveforms and Interference Phenomena
12.9 Constructing Waveforms
12.10 Reentrant Forms and Infinite Expressions
12.11 Autonomous Systems and Reentrant Forms Reconsidered
Chapter 13 Eigenbehavior: Some Algebraic Foundations of Self-Referential System Processes
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Self-Determined Behavior: Illustrations
13.3 Algebras and Operator Domains
13.4 Variables and Derived Operators
13.5 Infinite Trees
13.6 Continuous Algebras
13.7 Equations and Solutions
13.8 Reflexive Domains
13.9 Indicational Reentry Revisited
13.10 Double Binds as Eigenbehaviors
13.11 Differentiable Dynamical Systems and Representations of Autonomy
PART III COGNITIVE PROCESSES
Chapter 14 The Immune Network: Self and Nonsense in the Molecular Domain
14.1 Organizational Closure and Structural Change
14.2 Self-Versus-Nonself Discrimination
14.3 The Lymphoid Network
14.4 Network Links and Plasticity
14.5 Regulation in the Immune Network
14.6 Cognitive Domain for the Lymphoid System
14.7 Genetic and Ontogenetic Determination of the Cognitive Domain
14.8 A Change in Perspective
Chapter 15 The Nervous System as a Closed Network
15.1 The System of the Nervous Tissues
15.2 Change and Structural Coupling
15.3 Perception and Invariances
15.4 The Case of Size Constancy
15.5 Piaget and Knowledge
15.6 Interdependence in Neural Networks
Chapter 16 Epistemology Naturalized
16.1 Varieties of Cognitive Processes
16.2 In-formation
16.3 Linguistic Domains and Conversations
16.4 Units of Mind
16.5 Human Knowledge and Cognizing Organisms APPENDIXES
Appendix A Algorithm for a Tesselation Example of Autopoiesis
A.l Conventions
A. 2 Algorithm
Appendix B Some Remarks on Reflexive Domains and Logic
B. l Type-Free Logical Calculi
B.2 Indicational Calculi Interpreted for Logic
References
Index
