Life, cognition and society: The Theory of Autopoiesis of Maturana and Varela

Vida, cognición y sociedad: La Teoría de la Autopoiesis de Maturana y Varela

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Maria Clara Garavito Gómez, Mg.
Andres Felipe Villamil Lozano, Mg.
Abstract

In this paper we provide elements for understanding the relation between the biological (as that which is considered innate or genetically inherited) and the social (as the experience both into the environment and among subjectivities) in the constitution of a human being. Our perspective questions the separation between these two spheres by arguing that they are intertwined in the autopoiesis of the living. Using the theory of autopoiesis, we will understand organisms as cognitive systems that give meaning to the world insofar as they are experientially and corporeally related with it. In this experience of giving meanings, what is considered to be inside and what is considered to be outside the organism is re-signified, so in
this process life finds new ways of becoming more complex. Society is a result of this process of complexification; here we discuss the main proposals for understanding societies from an autopoietic theory. At the end, we propose that, among social organizations, there are more complex societies, and therefore more intelligent, in accordance to the coupling between their components (individuals that compound a society) and between the social system and the challenges that the world demands of it. 

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Maria Clara Garavito Gómez, Mg., Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Psicóloga de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Magister en Filosofía de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Candidata a Doctora en Filosofía de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Miembro del Grupo de Investigación Filosofía y Cognición, del Departamento de Filosofía de la misma institución. Miembro del Grupo Filosofía de la Mente, de la Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Trabaja en temas de Fenomenología y Ciencias Cognitivas.

Andres Felipe Villamil Lozano, Mg., Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Filósofo de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Magister en Filosofía de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Miembro del Grupo de Investigación Filosofía y Cognición, del Departamento de Filosofía de la misma institución. Miembro del Grupo Filosofía de la Mente, de la Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Trabaja en temas de Fenomenología, como el papel del Cuerpo Intencional en las Psicopatologías, temas de Biosemiótica y las relaciones entre la Filosofía Analítica y la Filosofía Continental.

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