The Biological Foundations of Virtual Realities and Their Implications for Human Existence / Maturana, Humberto

To consider the implications of the operation of the nervous sys- tem – and of the constitution of cultures as closed networks of languaging and emotioning – for how we understand and generate so-called “virtual realities.”

Viz též: The Biological Foundations of Virtual Realities and Their Implications for Human Existence

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Ontology of Observing / Maturana, Humberto

In: Texts in Cybernetics, American Society For Cibernetics Conference, Felton, CA. 18-23 October, 1988. - - 1998

My purpose in this essay is to explain cognition as a biological phenomenon, and to show, in the process, how language arises and gives origin to self consciousness, revealing the ontological foundations of the physical domain of existence as a limiting cognitive domain. In order to do this I shall start from two unavoidable experiential conditions that are at the same time my problems and my explanatory instruments, namely: a), that cognition, as is apparent in the fact that any alteration of the biology of our nervous system alters our cognitive capacities, is a biological phenomenon that must be explained as such; and b), that we, as is apparent in this very same essay, exist as human beings in laguage using language for our explanations. These two experiential conditions are my starting point because I must be in them in any explanatory attempt; they are my problems because I choose to explain them, and they are my unavoidable instruments because I must use cognition and language in order to explain cognition and language.

Viz též: Ontology of Observing

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Metadesign / Maturana, Humberto

In: Instituto de Terapia Cognitiva. - - 1998

The answers to these two questions would have been obvious years ago: Human beings, of course, machines are instruments of human design! But now days when we speak so much of progress, science and technology as if progress, science and technology were in themselves values to be venerated, there are many people that think that machines as they become more and more complex and intelligent through human design, may in fact become alive so that they may supplant us as a natural outcome of that very venerated progress and expansion of intelligence. Also many people seems to think that evolution is changing its nature so that technology is becoming the guiding force in the flow of the cosmic change in relation to us. I do not hold this view. I do not look at progress, science or technology as if they were values in themselves, nor do I think that biological or cosmic evolution is changing its nature or character. I think that the question that we human beings must face is that of what do we want to happen to us, not a question of knowledge or progress. The question that we must face is not about the relation of biology with technology, or about the relation between art and technology, nor about the relation between knowledge and reality, nor even about whether or not metadesign shapes our brains. I think that the question that we must face at this moment of our history is about our desires and about whether we want or not to be responsible of our desires.

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Biology of Language: The Epistemology of Reality / Maturana, Humberto

In: Miller, George A., and Elizabeth Lenneberg (Eds.) Psychology and Biology of Language and Thought: Essays in Honor of Eric Lenneberg New York: Academic Press. - s. 27-63. - 1978

I am not a linguist, I am a biologist. Therefore, I shall speak about language as a biologist, and address myself to two basic biological questions, namely: 1. What processes must take place in an organism for it to establish a linguistic domain with another organism? 2. What processes take place in a linguistic interaction that permit an organism (us) to describe and to predict events that it may experience?

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Autopoiesis, Structural Coupling and Cognition: A history of these and other notions in the biology of cognition / Maturana, Humberto

In: Cybernetics & Human Knowing. - č. 3-4, s. 5-34. - 2002

My intent in this essay is to reflect on the history of some biological notions such as autopoiesis, structural coupling, and cognition, that I have developed since the early 1960's as a result of my work on visual perception and the organization of the living. No doubt I shall repeat things that I have said in other publications (Maturana & Varela, 1980, 1988), and I shall present notions"that once they are said appear as obvious truisms. Moreover, I shall refine or expand the meaning of such notions, or even modify them. Yet, in any case, the reader is not invited to attend to the truisms, or to what seems to be obvious, rather he or she is invited to attend to the consequences that those notions entail for the understanding of cognition as a biological process. After all, explanations or demonstrations always become self evident once they are understood and accepted, and the purpose of this essay is the expansion of understanding in all dimensions of human existence.

Hesla: autopoiesa

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Distinguishing Ernst von Glasersfeld’s “Radical Constructivism” from Humberto Maturana’s “Radical Realism” / Kenny, Vincent

Ernst von Glasersfeld has dedicated a lot of effort to trying to define just where his views and those of his friend Humberto Maturana part company, epistemologically speaking (Glasersfeld 1991, 2001).As a contribution to unravelling this puzzle I propose in this article to delineate just where they seem to differ most and why these differences arise.

Viz též: Oikos

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Some Reflections Upon Creative Thinking in the Nineties / Graham, John

In: Seized by Agreement, Swamped by Understanding. Lloyd Fell, David Russell & Alan Stewart (Eds.) A collection of papers to celebrate the visit to Australia in August 1994 by Humberto Maturana. - - 1994

As people have had opportunities to encounter different ideas and ways of thinking, many have developed increased awareness of the stories, myths and legends of humankind.

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The Dance of Understanding / Fell, Lloyd -- Russell, David

In: Seized by Agreement, Swamped by Understanding. Lloyd Fell, David Russell & Alan Stewart (Eds.) A collection of papers to celebrate the visit to Australia in August 1994 by Humberto Maturana. - - 1994

We subscribe to the view, expressed by Maturana and others, that a satisfying experience of understanding does not result from invoking objectivity, the truth, or a compelling argument, to achieve agreement by the force of reason, nor from a process of information exchange, but from some other qualities of the biological interaction itself. We find a simple explanation of these qualities to be elusive and therefore we try to combine scientific explanation with a poetic metaphor which likens understanding to a dance.

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Non-Traditional R & D / Fell, Lloyd -- Russell, David

In: Seized by Agreement, Swamped by Understanding. Lloyd Fell, David Russell & Alan Stewart (Eds.) A collection of papers to celebrate the visit to Australia in August 1994 by Humberto Maturana. - - 1994

Uncertainty about funding; difficulty in determining research priorities; and concern about technology transfer (the lack of application of research results): these words stand out in the language of scientific/industrial research and development, today. So-called technology transfer seems to be the central issue because the criteria for determining research priorities and funding decisions are mostly based on the expected "pay off", i.e. the economic benefits which will result from the research findings being put into use within the industry. This applies, not only in situations where the industry is providing a proportion of the funding, as in most agricultural research, but to scientific research generally which is intended for the "public good."

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Biology’s Room With a View / Fell, Lloyd -- Russell, David

In: Seized by Agreement, Swamped by Understanding. Lloyd Fell, David Russell & Alan Stewart (Eds.) A collection of papers to celebrate the visit to Australia in August 1994 by Humberto Maturana. - - 1994

The diverse papers which make up this book are variations on a theme which is based in biological science - yet none of the contributors is really a biologist. Our metaphor for describing what we are doing here is that we have gathered together in a room because that particular room provides us with a certain view of our individual areas of interest - a view that may have been previously obscured. We are visiting the house of biology in the hope that we may see more clearly things that we each find baffling about our particular field of work in education, research, or daily living.

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