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Autopoiesis

The main contribution of autopoiesis is the distinction it makes between organization and structure. This distinction is increasingly important in biological and social systems. The realization that some organizations are able to “produce” structure through a self-sustaining cycle has become recognized as a foundation for distinguishing living and social systems from machines. The process of system self-production is called autopoiesis contrasting with the heteropoiesis (production of the “other”) of machines, artifacts, and contrivances. Self-producing systems are referred to as autopoietic systems.

Structure refers to the spatio-temporal distribution of outcomes or products of the rule-coordinated processes. Structure is regarded as a specific manifestation of the underlying organization within the specific context and conditions under which rules are applied. Structure is a static “snapshot,” a spatio-temporal arrangement of components and outcomes, a manifestation of the underlying recursively dynamic organization of processes and their rules of coordination.

In order to achieve recursive behavior, an organization cannot be linear and open-ended, unidirectionally traversing from input to output, but must be “closed upon itself” (i.e., circular and thus organizationally closed). Organizational closure is a prerequisite for self-renewal, self-replication, and recursive regeneration of the system. The coordination of processes in organizational closure means that the same network of processes and their coordination rules is produced again. Thus, not any set of rules but only a circularly “closed” set of rules brings forth the self-perpetuation and self-sustainability of a system.

Conceptual Overview

Biological Roots of Autopoiesis

Biologists Varela, Maturana, and Uribe initially introduced the concept of autopoietic systems in biological systems. An autopoietic system has been defined as a system that is generated through a closed organization of production processes such that the same organization of processes is regenerated through the interactions of its own products (components), and a boundary emerges as a result of the same constitutive processes.

Such an organization of components and component-producing processes remains relatively invariant through the interaction and turnover of components. What is changing is the system's structure. The system's boundary is a structural manifestation of the system's underlying organization. The boundary is a structural realization of the system in a particular environment of components. In physical environments, this could take the form of a topological boundary.

All autopoietic systems must be social systems. In other words, all autopoietic, and therefore all biological (living) systems, are also social systems. Also, the topological boundary, which has been necessary to describe an autopoietic system within a favorable environment of physical components (such as those within and around a cell), may not necessarily take a physical form in other types of systems (e.g., in social systems). In social systems, dynamic networks of productions are being continually renewed without changing their organization, while their components are being replaced; the birth or entry of new members replaces perishing or exiting individuals.

Autopoiesis and Knowledge

Organizationally closed corporations produce knowledge; structurally open corporations produce data and information. The difference is fundamental. System organization is a circularly closed network of process-coordinating rules. Because system knowledge (and its linguistic embedding) is defined as a purposeful coordination of action, system organization is the source of production, renewal, and depository of system knowledge.

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