AUTONOMY: the 3 basic levels
Charles François (2004). AUTONOMY: the 3 basic levels, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 214.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 214 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
J. LORIGNY writes: “According to P. VENDRYES three levels of autonomy should be distinguished: metabolic autonomy, motor autonomy and mental autonomy…
- “VENDRYES's three autonomies correspond to three succesive stages in evolution. Each developed at a definite stage of life's history and does not emerge formerly, at least in a visible fashion… The more recent ones are imbricated into the former ones, each using them after incorporating them…
- “Thus, motor autonomy uses metabolic autonomy… and in the same way, mental autonomy uses motor autonomy… (Furthermore) each autonomy feeds and reinforces the former ones, having them embedded in a systemic hierarchy” (1992, p.13).
Strikingly enough, when compared with MATURANA and VARELA's concept of autonomy and organizational closure, VENDRYES himself wrote as early as 1942: “The living being is to itself its own reference system” (1942, p.290).