Autopoiesis

3D representation of a living cell during the process of mitosis, example of an autopoietic system

The term autopoiesis (from Greek αὐτo- (auto) 'self' and ποίησις (poiesis) 'creation, production') refers to a system capable of producing and maintaining itself by creating its own parts.[1] The term was introduced in the 1972 publication Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela to define the self-maintaining chemistry of living cells.[2]

The concept has since been applied to the fields of cognition, neurobiology, systems theory, architecture and sociology. Niklas Luhmann briefly introduced the concept of autopoiesis to organizational theory.[3]

  1. ^ "autopoiesis". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  2. ^ Maturana, Humberto R.; Varela, Francisco J. (1972). Autopoiesis and cognition: the realization of the living. Boston studies in the philosophy and history of science (1 ed.). Dordrecht: Reidel. p. 141. OCLC 989554341.
  3. ^ Achterberg, Jan; Vriens, Dirk (2010). "The Social "arche," Organizations as Social Systems: Luhmann". Organizations. Springer Berlin. pp. 118–120. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-14316-8_4. ISBN 978-3-642-14315-1.