Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living
The seminal work defining autopoiesis and the biological basis of cognition
"An autopoietic machine is a machine organized as a network of processes of production of components which continuously regenerate the network of processes that produced them."
— Humberto Maturana & Francisco Varela
My Review
The foundational text that defined what makes living systems alive. Maturana and Varela coined 'autopoiesis' - self-creation - to describe how living systems continuously produce and maintain themselves. This is the theoretical bedrock for treating organizations as living systems: the claim isn't metaphor, it's mechanism. If you want to understand why the 'organizations are organisms' framing works, this is where the argument originates.
Why It Matters
This book provides the rigorous biological definition that underpins treating organizations as living systems. Varela and Maturana didn't just use biology as metaphor - they defined the mechanisms that distinguish living from non-living systems. The entire 'Biological First Principles' framework rests on their foundation.
Key Ideas
- Living systems are defined by self-production (autopoiesis)
- The organization of a system is what makes it what it is
- Cognition is not representation but structural coupling with environment
- Autonomy and identity emerge from operational closure
How It Connects to This Framework
Book 1 (Foundations) draws directly on autopoietic principles, especially Chapter 1 (From Cells to Companies). The concepts of organizational boundaries, identity maintenance, and selective permeability all derive from this work.
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The full Biology of Business book explores these concepts in depth with practical frameworks.