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Snakes all the Way Down: Varela's Calculus for Self‐Reference and the Praxis of Paradise
Author(s) -
Reichel André
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.1105
Subject(s) - praxis , autopoiesis , criticism , epistemology , self reference , action (physics) , autonomy , sociology , living systems , philosophy , law , computer science , political science , artificial intelligence , physics , quantum mechanics
This contribution seeks to commemorate Francisco Varela's formal conceptions of self‐reference, providing an overview of his writings while shedding some light in the praxis of self‐reference, from where a future research agenda can be derived. The architecture of Varela's thinking, determined by the interrelated notions of autopoiesis, autonomy, closure and self‐reference, was examined. The emphasis was on the development and expansions of his calculus for self‐reference from George Spencer Brown's Laws of Form . After dealing with some of the criticism launched at both works, an appraisal of the praxis of self‐reference of Varela's thinking in action was given. The outlook rounds up this contribution, shedding some light on a possible future research agenda for the formalization of theory and praxis of self‐reference. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.