{"product_id":"principles-of-biological-autonomy-a-new-annotated-edition-isbn-9780262551403","title":"Principles of Biological Autonomy, a new annotated edition","description":"\u003cb\u003eA new, updated edition of the 1979 classic from one of the foremost authors in cognitive science and theoretical biology, with the original text as well as more than 200 citations to current scientific developments.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrancisco Varela’s \u003ci\u003ePrinciples of Biological Autonomy\u003c\/i\u003e was a groundbreaking text when it was first published in 1979, putting forth a novel theory of how living systems produce and maintain themselves. This new edition, edited and annotated by cognitive scientists Ezequiel Di Paolo and Evan Thompson—revised and complemented with introductory essays for each part of the book—contains a wealth of ideas relevant to current projects in theoretical biology, cognitive science, systems theory, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of biology. Over 220 margin annotations supplement the reading of the text, linking to subsequent research and broader contemporary debates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis foundational book introduces the key concept of autonomy derived as an elaboration of the idea of autopoiesis (the self-production and self-distinction) of living organisms. Varela covers topics in systems theory, neuroscience, theories of perception, and immune networks and offers a participatory epistemology that goes on to be further developed in later enactive literature. These ideas are compelling not only for historical reasons but also because they still illuminate current efforts in developing the enactive approach toward wider and more challenging goals (including language, human cognition, ethics, and environmentalism).Foreword\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction to the New Edition. A Message from the Margins\u003cbr\u003ePreface. Information and Control Revisited\u003cbr\u003ePart I. Autonomy of the Living and Organizational Closure\u003cbr\u003e1. Autonomy and Biological Thinking\u003cbr\u003e2. Autopoiesis and the Organization of Living Systems\u003cbr\u003e3. A Tessellation Example of Autopoiesis\u003cbr\u003e4. Embodiments of Autopoiesis\u003cbr\u003e5. The Individual in Development and Evolution\u003cbr\u003e6. On the Consequences of Autopoiesis\u003cbr\u003e7. The Idea of Organizational Closure\u003cbr\u003ePart II. Descriptions, Distinctions, and Circularities\u003cbr\u003e8. Operational Explanations and the Dispensability of Information\u003cbr\u003e9. Symbolic Explanations\u003cbr\u003e10. The Framework of Complementarities\u003cbr\u003e11. Calculating Distinctions\u003cbr\u003e12. Closure and Dynamics of Form\u003cbr\u003e13. Eigenbehavior\u003cbr\u003ePart III. Cognitive Processes\u003cbr\u003e14. The Immune Network: Self and Nonsense in the Molecular Domain\u003cbr\u003e15. The Nervous System as a Closed Network\u003cbr\u003e16. Epistemology Naturalized\u003cbr\u003eAppendices\u003cbr\u003eAppendix A Algorithm for a Tesselation Example of Autopoiesis\u003cbr\u003eAppendix B Some Remarks on Reflexive Domains and Logic\u003cbr\u003eBibliography“Can a book be ahead of its time by 50 years?! The answer is a definitive ‘yes’ in the case of this phenomenal book by Francisco Varela. A real gem of a book about the philosophical foundations of biology and so much more.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e– Luiz Pessoa, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Entangled Brain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In reintroducing Francisco Varela’s classic, the MIT Press and the editors, Ezequiel Di Paolo and Evan Thompson, have performed a great service to the scientific community intimately concerned with identifying the central principles of life and mind. By engaging in this process of renewal, the reader stands to appreciate how Varela’s autonomy perspective will impact the future in many, if not all spheres of the life sciences and how we study them. And, for that matter, how we ourselves decide to survive and live.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e– J.A. Scott Kelso, author of \u003ci\u003eDynamic Patterns\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Complementary Nature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eFrancisco J. Varela (1946–2001) was Director of the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique; Professor of Cognitive Science and Epistemology, CREA, at the Ecole Polytechnique; and Cofounder of the Mind and Life Institute.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEzequiel A. Di Paolo is Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Basque Foundation for Science and Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics at the University of Sussex.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvan Thompson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he is also Associate Member of the Department of Asian Studies and the Department of Psychology. He is a coauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe Embodied Mind \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Blind Spot \u003c\/i\u003e(both MIT Press), an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a past President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmy Cohen Varela is Chairperson of the Mind \u0026amp; Life Europe Board and involved with Mind and Life since its inception. She is also a clinical psychologist specialized in psychodynamic therapy and philosophy. Amy studied comparative literature at Brown and Columbia Universities before moving to Paris in the early ’80s, where she received her degree in clinical psychology at the University of Paris 7, with a specialty in psychodynamic theory and practice, and in parallel, completed psychoanalytic training.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299824652517,"sku":"NP9780262551403","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262551403.jpg?v=1767735128","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/principles-of-biological-autonomy-a-new-annotated-edition-isbn-9780262551403","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}