Abstract
The fundamental question Maturana and Varela set out to answer is: what distinguishes entities or systems that we would call living from other systems, apparently equally complex, which we would not? How, for example, should a Martian distinguish between a horse and a car? This is an example that Monod (1974, p. 19) uses in addressing the similar but not identical question of distinguishing between natural and artificial systems.
It became clear that one, perhaps the, major function of the living cell was the constant re-creation of itself from within.
Rose (1970, p. 78)
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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Mingers, J. (1995). The Organization of Living Systems. In: Self-Producing Systems. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1022-6_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1022-6_2
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