Definition
The term autopoiesis, one of several current theories of life, refers to a system capable of producing and maintaining itself by creating its own parts. Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, in the 1972 publication Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living, introduced the term to define the self-maintaining chemistry of living cells.
Related concepts
AbiogenesisAdaptive systemAllopoiesisAllopoieticArchitectureAutocatalysisAutocatalytic setAutonomous agency theoryBiochemicalBiological cellBiosemioticsBob JessopCarlos GershensonCell membraneCell nucleusCells (biology)ChemistryChemotonCognitionConsciousnessConstructivist epistemologyCytoskeletonDanilo ZoloDissipative systemDonna HarawayDynamical systemEmbodied cognitive scienceEnactivismEpistemologyEukaryoteExplanatory gapFernando FloresFrancisco VarelaFree energy principleFreeman DysonFritjof CapraGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich HegelGreek languageHard problem of consciousnessHumberto MaturanaHypercycle (chemistry)Information metabolismJerome McGannKnowledgeLiving systemsLoschmidt's paradoxManfred EigenMarjatta MaulaMetabolismMitosisNeurophenomenologyNeuroscienceNiklas LuhmannNon-equilibrium thermodynamicsNucleic acidOrganelleOrganizational theoryPatrik SchumacherPeter Schuster (theoretical chemist)Pier Luigi LuisiPoiesisPoietic GeneratorPolytelyProteinQualiaQuine (computing)Relational order theoriesRepresentationalistRobert Rosen (theoretical biologist)Self-organizationSelf-referentialSelf-replicating machineSelf-replicationSensory-motor couplingSlavoj ŽižekSociologySolipsisticStuart KauffmanSystemSystems theoryTerry WinogradTibor GántiViable system theoryWhat Is Life?
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