Ebook: Evolutionary Systems: Biological and Epistemological Perspectives on Selection and Self-Organization

The three well known revolutions of the past centuries - the Copernican, the Darwinian and the Freudian - each in their own way had a deflating and mechanizing effect on the position of humans in nature. They opened up a richness of disillusion: earth acquired a more modest place in the universe, the human body and mind became products of a long material evolutionary history, and human reason, instead of being the central, immaterial, locus of understanding, was admitted into the theater of discourse only as a materialized and frequently out-of-control actor. Is there something objectionable to this picture? Formulated as such, probably not. Why should we resist the idea that we are in certain ways, and to some degree, physically, biologically or psychically determined? Why refuse to acknowledge the fact that we are materially situated in an ever evolving world? Why deny that the ways of inscription (traces of past events and processes) are co-determinative of further "evolutionary pathways"? Why minimize the idea that each intervention, of each natural being, is temporally and materially situated, and has, as such, the inevitable consequence of changing the world? The point is, however, that there are many, more or less radically different, ways to consider the "mechanization" of man and nature. There are, in particular, many ways to get the message of "material and evolutionary determination", as well as many levels at which this determination can be thought of as relevant or irrelevant.

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To understand how complex dynamic systems, living or non-living, linguistic or non-linguistic, come to be organized as systems, to understand how their inherent dynamic nature gives rise to organisations and forms that have found a balance between potentiality for change and evolution on the one hand, and requisite stability in a given environment on the other, is the main ambition of the study of evolutionary systems.
The aim of the present volume is to elucidate the scientific and philosophical backgrounds that play a role in one of the major debates taking place in that field, namely that on the relation between selection and self-organization. The book represents a genuine interdisciplinary forum in which the major representatives of evolutionary systems take part.
Audience: This volume will be interest to biologists, philosophers of science, systems scientists, mathematicians, physicists, sociologists of science. It is highly recommended to those interested in an interdisciplinary and complex approach to evolution, as well as to those interested in developing a genuinely historical viewpoint in the sciences.

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To understand how complex dynamic systems, living or non-living, linguistic or non-linguistic, come to be organized as systems, to understand how their inherent dynamic nature gives rise to organisations and forms that have found a balance between potentiality for change and evolution on the one hand, and requisite stability in a given environment on the other, is the main ambition of the study of evolutionary systems.
The aim of the present volume is to elucidate the scientific and philosophical backgrounds that play a role in one of the major debates taking place in that field, namely that on the relation between selection and self-organization. The book represents a genuine interdisciplinary forum in which the major representatives of evolutionary systems take part.
Audience: This volume will be interest to biologists, philosophers of science, systems scientists, mathematicians, physicists, sociologists of science. It is highly recommended to those interested in an interdisciplinary and complex approach to evolution, as well as to those interested in developing a genuinely historical viewpoint in the sciences.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Evolution: Model or Metaphor....Pages 1-12
The Role of Natural Selection Theory in Understanding Evolutionary Systems....Pages 13-20
Darwinism and Developmentalism: Prospects for Convergence....Pages 21-32
Towards High Evolvability Dynamics Introduction....Pages 33-43
The Beginning of the End: On the Origin of Final Cause....Pages 45-58
Emergence of Life and Biological Selection from the Perspective of Complex Systems Dynamics....Pages 59-66
Self-Organization and Self-Construction of Order....Pages 67-78
Self-Organization and Optimization: Conflicting or Complementary Approaches?....Pages 79-100
Pleiotropy and the Evolution of Adaptability....Pages 101-112
The Unified Theory and Selection Processes....Pages 113-128
Information Increase in Biological Systems: How Does Adaptation Fit?....Pages 129-139
Canonical Ensembles, Evolution of Competing Species, and the Arrow of Time....Pages 141-153
Spontaneous Order, Evolution, and Autocatakinetics: The Nomological Basis for the Emergence of Meaning....Pages 155-180
Pragmatic Information and the Emergence of Meaning....Pages 181-196
Emergence of Chaos in Evolving Volterra Ecosystems....Pages 197-214
Immanent Causality: A Spinozist Viewpoint on Evolution and Theory of Action....Pages 215-231
Causality as Constraint....Pages 233-242
Evolutionary Systems and the Four Causes: A Real Aristotelian Story?....Pages 243-254
Evolution as Its Own Cause and Effect....Pages 255-265
Dealing with Complex Systems or How to Decipher Language and Organisms....Pages 267-280
The Unfolding Semiosphere....Pages 281-293
Competence of Natural Languages for Describing the Physical Origin of Life....Pages 295-305
Towards a “Meta-Ethic” Derived from Evolutionary Lineages....Pages 307-318
On Some Relations between Cognitive and Organic Evolution....Pages 319-340
Selected Self-Organization and the Semiotics of Evolutionary Systems....Pages 341-358
Towards an Evolutionary Semiotics: The Emergence of New Sign-Functions in Organisms and Devices....Pages 359-376
The Evolution of the Symbolic Domain in Living Systems and Artificial Life....Pages 377-396
Embodiment of Natural and Artificial Agents....Pages 397-412
Are Life and Meaning Coextensive?....Pages 413-422
Back Matter....Pages 423-438

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To understand how complex dynamic systems, living or non-living, linguistic or non-linguistic, come to be organized as systems, to understand how their inherent dynamic nature gives rise to organisations and forms that have found a balance between potentiality for change and evolution on the one hand, and requisite stability in a given environment on the other, is the main ambition of the study of evolutionary systems.
The aim of the present volume is to elucidate the scientific and philosophical backgrounds that play a role in one of the major debates taking place in that field, namely that on the relation between selection and self-organization. The book represents a genuine interdisciplinary forum in which the major representatives of evolutionary systems take part.
Audience: This volume will be interest to biologists, philosophers of science, systems scientists, mathematicians, physicists, sociologists of science. It is highly recommended to those interested in an interdisciplinary and complex approach to evolution, as well as to those interested in developing a genuinely historical viewpoint in the sciences.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Evolution: Model or Metaphor....Pages 1-12
The Role of Natural Selection Theory in Understanding Evolutionary Systems....Pages 13-20
Darwinism and Developmentalism: Prospects for Convergence....Pages 21-32
Towards High Evolvability Dynamics Introduction....Pages 33-43
The Beginning of the End: On the Origin of Final Cause....Pages 45-58
Emergence of Life and Biological Selection from the Perspective of Complex Systems Dynamics....Pages 59-66
Self-Organization and Self-Construction of Order....Pages 67-78
Self-Organization and Optimization: Conflicting or Complementary Approaches?....Pages 79-100
Pleiotropy and the Evolution of Adaptability....Pages 101-112
The Unified Theory and Selection Processes....Pages 113-128
Information Increase in Biological Systems: How Does Adaptation Fit?....Pages 129-139
Canonical Ensembles, Evolution of Competing Species, and the Arrow of Time....Pages 141-153
Spontaneous Order, Evolution, and Autocatakinetics: The Nomological Basis for the Emergence of Meaning....Pages 155-180
Pragmatic Information and the Emergence of Meaning....Pages 181-196
Emergence of Chaos in Evolving Volterra Ecosystems....Pages 197-214
Immanent Causality: A Spinozist Viewpoint on Evolution and Theory of Action....Pages 215-231
Causality as Constraint....Pages 233-242
Evolutionary Systems and the Four Causes: A Real Aristotelian Story?....Pages 243-254
Evolution as Its Own Cause and Effect....Pages 255-265
Dealing with Complex Systems or How to Decipher Language and Organisms....Pages 267-280
The Unfolding Semiosphere....Pages 281-293
Competence of Natural Languages for Describing the Physical Origin of Life....Pages 295-305
Towards a “Meta-Ethic” Derived from Evolutionary Lineages....Pages 307-318
On Some Relations between Cognitive and Organic Evolution....Pages 319-340
Selected Self-Organization and the Semiotics of Evolutionary Systems....Pages 341-358
Towards an Evolutionary Semiotics: The Emergence of New Sign-Functions in Organisms and Devices....Pages 359-376
The Evolution of the Symbolic Domain in Living Systems and Artificial Life....Pages 377-396
Embodiment of Natural and Artificial Agents....Pages 397-412
Are Life and Meaning Coextensive?....Pages 413-422
Back Matter....Pages 423-438
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