Humberto Maturana

Humberto Maturana

Everything said is said by some observer with a particular intent.

Summary

Humberto Maturana is a Chilean biologist whose work extends to philosophy and cognitive science and even to family therapy. Aside from making important contributions to the field of Evolution, he is also a founder of Radical Constructivism, a relativistic epistemology built upon empirical findings of neurobiology.

Together with his student Francisco Varela, he invented the concept of Autopoiesis and extended the Santiago Theory of Cognition (see Vital Unconscious and Biocentric Principle and Biological Basis of Biodanza).

Ideas

  • Autopoiesis - Defines living systems as 'self producing' mechanisms which maintain their particular form despite material inflow and outflow, through self-regulation and self-reference. Can be a cell or a whole organism. Combines the concepts of Homeostasis and Systems Thinking.
  • Santiago Theory of Cognition - Living systems are cognitive systems, and living as a process is a process of cognition. This statement is valid for all organisms, with or without a nervous system.

See Also

Francisco Varela: biologist and philosopher, most well-known for introducing the concept of Autopoiesis to biology and extending the Santiago Theory of Cognition, and introducing Neurophenomenology to Neuroscience.

Links

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Maturana

Homepage: http://www.inteco.cl/biology

Biography: http://www.oikos.org/maten.htm

Autopoiesis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopoiesis
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/t.quick/autopoiesis.html
http://www.pnc.com.au/~lfell/index.html

Autopoiesis and Enaction: http://www.enolagaia.com/AT.html

Humberto Maturana, Biology of Language - The Epistemology of Reality, Psychology and Biology of Language and Thought - Essays in Honor of Eric Lenneberg, New York, Academic Press, pp 27-63, 1978:
http://www.enolagaia.com/M78BoL.html

Humberto Maturana, Reality - The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a Compelling Argument, The Irish Journal of Psychology, Vol 9, No 1, pp 25-82, 1998: http://www.enolagaia.com/M88Reality.html

Humberto Maturana, Autopoieses, Structural Coupling and Cognition: http://www.isss.org/maturana.htm

Humberto Maturana, What it is to be Human, Notes from Maturana's Australian Workshops:
http://www.pnc.com.au/~lfell/notes.html

Humberto Maturana, Ontology of Observing - The Biological Foundations of Self Conciousness and the Physical Domain of Existence, Conference Workbook - Texts in Cybernetics, American Society For Cybernetics Conference, 1988: http://www.inteco.cl/biology/ontology

Humberto Maturana, The Nature of Time: http://www.inteco.cl/biology/nature.htm

Humberto Maturana, Biology of Cognition, Autopoiesis and Cognition - The Realization of the Living, pp 5-58, 1980: http://www.enolagaia.com/M70-80BoC.html

Humberto Maturana, Cognition, Wahrnehmung und Kommunikation, pp 29-49, 1978:
http://www.enolagaia.com/M78bCog.html

Humberto Maturana, Explanations and Reality, Lecture, Heidelburg, 1992:
http://www.weknow.ch/marco/A1992/Heid/Maturana921018.htm

Humberto Maturana, Metadesign - Human beings versus machines, or machines as instruments of human designs?, 1997: http://www.inteco.cl/articulos/metadesign.htm

Humberto Maturana and Sima Nisis de Rezepka, Human Awareness - Understanding the Biological Basis of Knowledge and Love in Education, 6th Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Education, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 1997: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jcull/articles/arteduc.htm

Humberto Maturana and Gerda Verden-Zoller, Biology of Love, 1996:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jcull/articles/bol.htm

Humberto Maturana, Jorge Mpodozis and Juan Carlos Letelier, Brain, Language and the Origin of Human Mental Functions, Biological Research, 28, 15-26, 1995: http://www.enolagaia.com/MatMpo&Let(1995).html

JY Lettvin, HR Maturana, WS McCulloch, WH Pitts, What the Frog's Eye Tells the Frog's Brain, The Mind: Biological Approaches to its Functions http://grace.evergreen.edu/%7Earunc/texts/cybernetics/WhatTheFrogsEyeTellsTheFrogsBrain.pdf

Joy Murray, Maturana's Biology and Some Possible Implications for Education, Seized by Agreement, Swamped by Understanding, 1994: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/pub/seized/educat.html

Lloyd Fell and David Russell, An Introduction to Maturana's Biology, Seized by Agreement, Swamped by Understanding, 1994: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/pub/seized/matsbio.html

Ronan Hallowell, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela's Contribution to Media Ecology: Autopoiesis, The Santiago School of Cognition, and Enactive Cognitive Science, Proceedings of the Media Ecology Assocation, 143-158, 10, 2009: http://www.media-ecology.org/publications/MEA_proceedings/v10/13_varela_maturanda.pdf

Vincent Kenny, Life, the Multiverse and Everything - An Introduction to the Ideas of Humberto Maturana: http://www.oikos.org/vinclife.htm