publication . Other literature type . Article . 2004

Autopoiesis with or without cognition: defining life at its edge.

Name: Autopoiesis with or without cognition: defining life at its edge.
Keywords: Research Article, Biotechnology, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biomaterials, Biomedical Engineering

Pier Luigi Luisi; Michel Bitbol;

Open Access English

Published: 22 Nov 2004

Summary
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Abstract

This paper examines two questions related to autopoiesis as a theory for minimal life: (i) the relation between autopoiesis and cognition; and (ii) the question as to whether autopoiesis is the necessary and sufficient condition for life. First, we consider the concept of cognition in the spirit of Maturana and Varela: in contradistinction to the representationalistic point of view, cognition is construed as interaction between and mutual definition of a living unit and its environment. The most direct form of cognition for a cell is thus metabolism itself, which necessarily implies exchange with the environment and therefore a simultaneous coming to be...

doi: 10.1098/rsif.2004.0012

pmc: PMC1618936

pmid: 16849156

Subjects

free text keywords: Research Article, Biotechnology, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biomaterials, Biomedical Engineering, Artificial life, Cognitive science, Cognition, Biological adaptation, Living systems, Analogy, Organism, Biology, Autopoiesis, Ecology, Self-organization

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