Humberto Maturana’s work explores the biological foundations of cognition, arguing that living beings are structure-determined systems that do not represent an external world but rather “bring forth” reality through their actions. He distinguishes between two primary epistemological stances: objectivity-without-parenthesis, which assumes an independent, universal reality, and objectivity-in-parenthesis, where the observer acknowledges that reality is a multifaceted construct of their own biological and linguistic operations. Central to this theory is the concept of languaging, a recursive coordination of actions inextricably braided with emotioning, which serves as the true basis for human rationality and social systems. Within these social domains, mutual acceptance and love are identified as the constitutive biological emotions that allow for ethical coexistence and the stability of human communities. Ultimately, Maturana posits that knowing is doing, suggesting that our experience of the world is a direct reflection of our biological realisation as living entities.
Sources
• A bridge for two views: Checkland’s soft systems methodology and Maturana’s ontology of the observer (Alberto Paucar-Caceres and Bruno Jerardino-Wiesenborn, 2019) – https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2019.1578629 DOI: 10.1080/01605682.2019.1578629 • Maturana, Technology, and Art: Is a Biology of Technology Possible? (Peter Bond, 2004) • Distinguishing the Observer: An Attempt at Interpreting Maturana (Ernst von Glasersfeld, 1990) • Cognitive Strategies (Humberto R. Maturana, 1974) • METADESIGN (Humberto Maturana, 1997) – http://www.inteco.cl/articulos/006/texto\_ing.htm • Reality: The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a Compelling Argument (Humberto R. Maturana, 1988) – http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03033910.1988.10557705 DOI: 10.1080/03033910.1988.10557705 • Systemic and meta-systemic laws (Ximena Dávila Yánez and Humberto Maturana RomesĂn, 2008) • Churchman and Maturana: Enriching the Notion of Self-Organization for Social Design (Martin Reynolds, 2005) – https://oro.open.ac.uk/3382/ • The Effectiveness of Mathematical Formalisms (Humberto Maturana RomesĂn, 2000) • Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living (Humberto R. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela, 1980) – ISBN 90-277-1015-5 • The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding (Humberto R. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela, 1987) – ISBN 0-87773-642-1 • The Cognitive Theories of Maturana and Varela (John Mingers, 1991)