Abstract
Approached from the point of view of the basic processes that constitute the self-organization of living systems, autonomy means the generation of identity and the minimal unity of a system, as a consequence of the self-production of internal components and processes of an organism, self-regulation of its internal variables, and self-sustaining of its internal resources. However, a living system is also a dynamical system, which means that the emergence of identity and the unity of the system is inseparable from the generation of its degrees of freedom. These degrees of freedom have different levels of complexity, given by the multidimensional patterns instantiating them, offering various alternatives to respond to environmental perturbation. From the point of view of the multidimensionality of degrees of freedom of a living system, which depends on the degree of self-organization and complexity of the organism, one can distinguish three types of autonomy: minimal or basic autonomy, sensorimotor autonomy, and strong autonomy. Put in these terms, autonomy depends on the abilities of the organism to access some degrees of freedom of higher complexity, to enhance its degrees of freedom by its coupling with the environment, as a result of its bodily skills, and to consciously control and monitorize its degrees of freedom, as a result of its higher-order cognitive abilities. Keywords: self-organization, autonomy, degrees of freedom, dynamical system, autopoietic system.
Highlights
Self-organization and autonomyIn terms of autopoietic theory, both in the classical version and in the later developments, autonomy designates a feature of living organisms, i.e., of biological systems with adaptive mechanisms, which have the capacity to self-sustain and survive under the conditions of environmental perturbations
One can define the degrees of freedom of the system as representing the number of possible positions or states the system can occupy, considering its independent variables, without breaking the exogenous or endogenous constraints it undergoes. It results from the convergent approaches of the dynamical system theory in topological terms and from the part–whole relationship perspective, whereby through self-organization the degrees of freedom of the system are produced, which together give its degree of autonomy
One of the consequences of the capacity of living matter to pursue self-organization is the emergence of autonomy of the living system
Summary
In terms of autopoietic theory, both in the classical version and in the later developments, autonomy designates a feature of living organisms, i.e., of biological systems with adaptive mechanisms, which have the capacity to self-sustain and survive under the conditions of environmental perturbations. Self-organization involves the generation of a new hierarchy of levels where transition to a higher level of organization creates the possibility of accessing some increasingly complex degrees of freedom by adding new coordinates in the state space, which are represented by the system variables This means that self-organization involves generating and re-generating constraints that modulate the flow of energy and contribute to the recursive maintenance of the organism One can define the degrees of freedom of the system as representing the number of possible positions or states the system can occupy, considering its independent variables, without breaking the exogenous or endogenous constraints it undergoes To conclude, it results from the convergent approaches of the dynamical system theory in topological terms and from the part–whole relationship perspective, whereby through self-organization the degrees of freedom of the system are produced, which together give its degree of autonomy. The emergence of identity and unity of the system is inseparable from generating its degrees of freedom, whose level of complexity, given by the multidimensional patterns instancing them, offer varied alternatives for responding to environmental perturbations
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