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Closure, Identity, and the Emergence of Formal Causation
Author(s) -
MORENO ALVARO
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb06270.x
Subject(s) - closure (psychology) , causation , epistemology , merge (version control) , construct (python library) , causality (physics) , identity (music) , computer science , sociology , political science , law , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , information retrieval , programming language , aesthetics
A bstract : The aim of this paper is to characterize a type of causality relevant to study the closure of complex systems that we call formal causation . By this term we understand the existence of a new (not materially inherent) causal relation among constituents, generated through an autonomous process of closure. Once a certain level of organization is reached, material systems can generate internal constraints that, through recursive processes, construct their own identity. We study two different forms of closure: closure in dissipative systems and closure in template self‐replication. Finally, these two forms merge and bring forth a new one: informational closure, We show how complex forms of organization are based on informational closure, which is an explicit, recorded type of formal causation allowing a functional articulation between individual organizations and larger, collective and historical (meta)organizations.