Re-MappingRobert Rosen's (M,R)-Systems

The historical nature of biological complexity and the ineffectiveness of the mathematical approach to it

Contemporary scientific knowledge is built on both methodological and epistemological reductionism. The discovery of the limitations of the reductionist paradigm in the mathematical treatment of certain physical phenomena originated the notion of complexity, both as a pattern and process. After clarifying some very general terms and ideas on biological evolution and biological complexity, the article will tackle to seek to summarize the debate on biological complexity and discuss the difference between complexities of living and inert matter. Some examples of the major successes of mathematics applied to biological problems will follow; the notion of an intrinsic limitation in the application of mathematics to biological complexity as a global, relational, and historical phenomenon at the individual and species level will also be advanced.

Representing life: A natural philosophical project

We address multi-levelled organization as a vital aspect of any characterization of Nature, and propose that a model-hierarchical description is fitting for a Natural Philosophical point of view. An important aspect is that the different organizational levels in a model hierarchy are partially isolated and autonomous, partially communicating across the entire scale assembly. Of particular interest are the complex interfaces between levels, and the manner in which these may be transited by a generic form of quantum error correction. An entire hierarchy decomposes into two partial hierarchies, one of the model levels, one of the complex interfaces. These are both approximately modelled, both internally and externally, as a duality of hyperscales, which ultimately integrate to give a singular metascalar identity: the duality we propose is not that of Descartes, but is a natural outcome of multi-levelled modelling. We note that a Natural Philosophical view of Nature must include a sense of meaning, related to Aristotle's fourth cause, and that this makes a clear difference from conventional Scientific practice. Life can be well represented by this hierarchical snapshot of its structure, although a more comprehensive view must invoke the characteristics of living, and not just life per se.

Hylomorphism and the metabolic closure conception of life

This paper examines three exemplary theories of living organization with respect to their common feature of defining life in terms of metabolic closure: autopoiesis, (M, R) systems, and chemoton theory. Metabolic closure is broadly understood to denote the property of organized chemical systems that each component necessary for the maintenance of the system is produced from within the system itself, except for an input of energy. It is argued that two of the theories considered--autopoiesis and (M, R) systems--participate in a hylomorphist pattern of thinking which separates the "form" of the living system from its "matter." The analysis and critique of hylomorphism found in the work of the philosopher Gilbert Simondon is then applied to these two theories, and on the basis of this critique it is argued that the chemoton model offers a superior theory of minimal life which overcomes many of the problems associated with the other two. Throughout, the relationship between hylomorphism and the understanding of living things as machines is explored. The paper concludes by considering how hylomorphism as a background ontology for theories of life fundamentally influences the way life is defined.

The organism and its double: an approach to the individual

The individual is certainly the most complex entity that we know until now. Current research converges on a triad-like understanding of the biological individual as an interface of a mechanism and an ecosystem. The present article wants to propose a more generic concept of individual by integrating the functional role of its qualitative characteristics. Modules-problems ensuing from this generic model will serve as a matrix in the elaboration of a future integral biomathics, while category theory will be its syntactic base.