Autopoiesis

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Revision as of 16:09, 1 August 2006

Definitions

• [Encyclopaedia Autopoietica]

The theoretical construct definitive of the manner of operation of that class of systems that includes living systems. This term, combined from the Greek auto- (self) and poiesis (creation/production), was coined by Maturana in (approximately) 1972 (Cf. Maturana's comments in Maturana & Varela, 1980, p. xvii). Often loosely translated as 'self-creation' or 'self-production', the term connotes the process or dynamic by which an autopoietic machine / system maintains its autopoietic organization (via intrinsic processes of production of components realizing this particular organization). More specifically, autopoiesis is attributed to a machine (delineated as a a network of processes) which through that network of processes produces the components that:

• "(1) through their interactions and transformations continuously regenerate and realize the network of processes (relations) that produced them; and
• (2) constitute it (the machine) as a concrete unity in the space in which they [the components] exist by specifying the topological domain of its realization as such a network." (Varela, 1979, p. 13)

... The difference between autonomy and autopoiesis is that autopoietic systems must produce their own components in addition to conserving their organization . Autonomous machines need only exhibit organizational closure, and they are not required to produce their own components as part of their operation.

Related Terms

system; systemic

Literature

• Maturana, H.; Varela, F.: Autopoiesis and Cognition: the Realization of the Living. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1980 (1st ed. 1973).

• Varela, F.: Principles of Biological Autonomy. New York: Elsevier, 1979.

• Klimecki, R. G.: Self-Organization as a New Paradigm in Management Science. Konstanz: Univ. Konstanz, Lehrstuhl für Management (Management Forschung und Praxis, Nr. 10), 1995. [available at: Link (HTML), last access: 08/01/2006]