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Autopoiesis, agency and accident: criteria for the attribution of life
Author(s) -
Cameron W.
Publication year - 2001
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.355
Subject(s) - autopoiesis , agency (philosophy) , attribution , accident (philosophy) , accidental , autonomous system (mathematics) , sociology , computer science , psychology , epistemology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , philosophy , social science , physics , acoustics
‘Life’ is manifest in autonomous being in a contingent world and ‘natural life’ is life that has developed autonomously in that its becoming has not depended on prior agency. Autonomous being requires the capacity of autopoiesis and the maintenance of autonomous being in a contingent world requires the capacity of intentional agency. Also, autonomous and diverse becoming requires the capacities of accidental creation and reproductive evolution in an environment of contingent events. These capacities may be explained in theories of functional organization, each of which may be variously realized in the physical domain. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.