por Humberto Maturana
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Everything said is said by an observer to another observer that could be him or herself. Since this condition is my experiential starting point in the praxis of living as well as my problem, I shall make explicit some of the notions that I shall use as my tools for explaining the phenomena of congition and language, and I shall do so by revealing the actions in the praxis of living that they entail in our daily life when we do science. Indeed, by revealing what we do as observers I am making explicit the ontology of the observer as a constitutive human condition.
i) The observer. An observer is, in general, any being operating in language, or in particular, any human being in the understanding that language defines humanity. In our individual experience as human beings we find ourselves in language, we do not see ourselves growing into it: we are already observers by being in language when we begin as observers to reflect upon language and the condition of being observers. In other words, whatver takes place in the praxis of living of the observer takes place as distinctions in language through languaging, and this is all that he or she can do as such . One of my tasks is to show how the observer arises.
ii) Unities. The basic operation that an observer performs in the praxis of living is the operation of distinction. In the operation of distinction an observer brings forth a unity (an entity, a whole) as well as the medium in which it is distinguished, and entails in this latter all the operational coherences that make the distinction of the unity possible in his or her praxis of living.
iii) Simple and composite unities. An observer may distinguish in the praxis of living two kinds of unities, simple and composite unities. A simply unity is a unity brought forth in an operation of distinction that constitutes it as a whole by specifying its properties as a collection of dimensions of interactions in the medium in which it is distinguished. Therefore, a simple unity is exclusively and completely characterized by the properties through which it is brought forth in the praxis of living of the observer that distinguishes it, and no further explanation is needed for the origing of these properties. A simple unity arises defined and characterized by a collection of properties as a matter of distinction in the praxis of living of the observer. A composite unity is a unity distinguished as a simple unity that through further operations of distinction is decomposed by the observer into components that through their composition would constitute the original simple unity in the domain in which it is distinguished. A composite unity, therefore, is operationally distinguished as a simple unity in a metadomain with respect to the domain in which its components are distinguished because it results as such from an operation of composition. As a result, the components of a composite unity and its correlated simple unity are in a constitutive relation of mutual specification. Thus, the properties of a composite unity distinguished as a simple one entail the properties of a composite unity distinguished as a simple one entail the properties of the components that constitute it as such, and conversely, the properties of the components of a composite unity and their manner of composition determine the properties that characterize it as a simple unity when distinguished as such. Accordingly, there is no such thing as the distinction of a component independently of the unity that it integrates, nor can a simple unity distinguished as a composite one be decomposed into an arbitrary set of components disposed in an arbitrary manner of composition. Indeed, there is no such thing as a free component floating around independently of the composite unity that it integrates. Therefore, whenever we say that we treat a simple unity as a composite one, and we claim that we do so by distinguishing in it elements that when put together do not regenerate the original unity, we in fact are not decomposing the unity that we believe that we are decomposing but another one, and the elements that we distinguish are not components of the composite unity that we say that they compose.
iv) Organization and structure. A particular composite unity is characterized by the components and relations between components that constitute it as a composite unity that can be distinguished, in a metadomain with respect to its components, as a particular simple unity of a certain kind. As such, a particular composite unity has both organization and structure. These can be characterized as follows:
- The relations between components in a composite unity that make it a composite unity of a particular kind, specifying its class identify as simple unity in a metadomain with respect to its components, constitutes its organization. In other words, the organization of a composite unity is the configuration of static or dynamic relations between its components that specifies its class identity as a composite unity that can be distinguished as a simple unity of a particular kind. Therefore, if the organization of a composite unity changes, the composite unity loses its class identity, that is, it disintegrates. The organization of a composite unity is necessarily an invariant while it conserves its class identity, and vice versa, the class identify of a composite unity is necessarily an invariant while the composite unity conserves its organization.
- In a composite unity, be this static or dynamic, the actual components plus the actual relations that take place between them while realizing it as a particular composite unity characterized by a particular organization, constitute its structure. In other words, the structure of a particular composite unity is the manner in which it is actually made by actual static or dynamic components and relations in a particular space, and a particular composite unity conserves its class identity only as long as its structure realizes in it the organization that defines its class identity. Therefore, in any particular composite unity the configuration of relations between components that constitutes its organization must be realized in its structure as a subset of all the actual relations that hold between its components as actual entities interacting in the compositions. It follows from all this, that the characterization of the organization of a composite unity as a configuration of relations between components says nothing about the characteristics or properties of these components other than that they must satisfy the relations of the organization of the composite unity through their interactions in its composition. It also follows that the structure of a composite unity can change without it losing its class identity if the configuration of relations that constitutes its organization is conserved through such structural changes. At the same time, it also follows that if the organization of a composite unity is not conserved through its structural changes, the composite unity loses its class identity, it disintegrates, and something else appears in its stead. Therefore, a dynamic composite unity is a composite unity in continuous structural change with conservation of organization-
v) Structure determined systems. Since the structure of a composite unity consists in its components and their relations, any change in a composite unity consists in a structural change, and arises in it at every instant necessarily determined by its structure at that instant through the operation of the properties of its components. Furthermore, the structural changes that a composite unity undergoes as a result of an interaction are also determined by the structure of the composite unity, and this is so because such structural changes take place in the interplay of the properties of the components of the composite unity as they are involved in its composition. Therefore, an external agent that interacts with a composite unity only triggers in it a structural change that it does not determine. Since this is a constitutive condition for composite unities, nothing external to them can specify what happens in them; there are no instructive interactions for composite unities. Finally, and as a result of this latter condition, the structure of a composite unity also determines with which structural configuration of the medium it may interact. In general, then, everything that happens in a composite unity is a structural change, and every structural change occurs in a composite unity determined at every instant by its structure at that instant. This is so both for static and for dynamic composite unities, and the only difference between these is that dynamic composite unities are in a continuous structural change generated as part of their structural constitution in the context of their interactions, while static ones are not. It follows from all this that composite unities are structure determined systems in the sense that everything that happens in them is determined by their structure. This can be systematically expressed by saying that the structure of a composite unity determines in it at every instant:
- the domain of all the structural changes that it may undergo with conservation of organization (class identity) and adaptation at that instant; I call this domain the instantaneous domain of the possible changes of state of the composite unity.
- the domain of all the structural changes that it may undergo with loss of organization and adaptation at that instant; I call this domain the instantaneous domain of the possible disintegrations of the composite unity.
- the domain of all the different structural configurations of the medium that it admits at that instant in interactions that trigger in it changes of state; I call this domain the instantaneous domain of the possible perturbations of the composite unity.
- the domain of all the different structural configurations of the medium that it admits at that instant in interactions that trigger in it its disintegration; I call this domain the instantaneous domain of the possible destructive interactions of the composite unity.
These four domains of structural determinism that characterize every structure determined systems at every instant are obviously not fixed, and they change as the structure of the structure determined systems changes in the flow of its own internal structural dynamics or as a result of its interactions. These general characteristics of structure determined systems have several additional consequences of which I shall mention six. The first is that during the ontogeny of a structure determined system, its four domains of structural determinism change following a course contingent to its interactions and its own internal structural dynamics. The second is that some structure determined systems have recurrent domains of structural determinism because they have recurrent structural configurations, while others do not because their structure changes in a nonrecurrent manner. The third is that although the structure of a structure determined system determines the structural configurations of the medium with wich it may interact, all its interactions arise as coincidences with independent systems, and these coincidental interactions cannot be predicted from the structure of the structure determined system alone. The fourth is that a composite unity exists only while it moves through the medium in interactions that are perturbations, and that it disintegrates at the first destructive interaction. The fifth it that since the medium cannot specify what happens in a structure determined system because it only triggers the structural changes that occur in the system as a result of the system's interactions, all that can happen to a composite unity in relation to its interactions in the medium, is that the course followed by its structural changes is contingent to the sequence of these interactions. Finally, the sixth is that since mechanistic systems are structure determined systems, and since scientific explanations entail the proposition of mechanistic systems as the systems that generate the phenomena to be explained, in scientific explanations we deal, and we can only deal, with structure determined systems.
vi) Existence. By putting objectivity in parenthesis we accept that constitutively we cannot claim the independent existence of things (entities, unities, ideas, etc.), and we recognize that a unity exists only in its distinction, that is, in the praxis of living of the observer that brings it forth. But we also recognize that the distinction takes place in the praxis of living of the observer in an operation that specifies simultaneously the class identity of the unity distinguished, either as a simple unity or as a composite one, and its domain of existence as the domain of the operational coherences in which its distinction makes sense also as a feature of his or her praxis of living. Since the class identity of a composite unity is defined by its organization, and since this can be realized in a composite unity only while it interacts in in a domain of perturbations, existence in a composite unity entails the conservation of its organization as well as the conservation of its operational structural correspondence in the domain of operational coherences in which it is distinguished. Similarly, since the class identity of a simple unity is defined by its properties, and since these are defined in relation to the operational domain in which the simple unity is distinguished, existence in a simple unity entails the conservation of the properties that define it and the operational structural correspondence in which these properties are realized.
vii) Structural coupling or adaptation. I call structural coupling or adaptation the relation of dymanic structural correspondence with the medium in which a unity conserves its class identity (organization in the case of a composite unity, and operation of its properties in the case of a simple one), and which is entailed in its distinction as it is brought forth by the obsever in his or her praxis of living. Therefore, conservation of class identity and conservation of adaptation are constitutive conditions of existence for any unity (entity, system, whole, etc.) in the domain of existence in which it is brought forth by the observer in his or her praxis of living. As constitutive conditions of existence for any unity, conservation of class identity and conservation of adaptation are paired conditions of existence that entail each other so that if one is lost the other is lost, and the unity exists no more. When this happens, a composite unity disintegrates and a simple unity disappears.
viii) Domain of existence. The operation of distinction that brings forth and specifies a unity, also brings forth and specifies its domain of existence as the domain of the operational coherences entailed by the operation of the properties through which the unity is characterized in its distinction. In other words, the domain of existence of a simple unity is the domain of operational validity of the properties that define it as such, and the domain of existence of a composite unity is the domain of operational validity of the properties of the components that constitute it. Furthermore, the constitutive operational coherences of a domain of existence as the domain of operational validity of the properties of the entities that define it, entails all that such validity requieres. Accordingly, a simple unity exists in a single domain of existence specified by its properties, and a composite unity exists in two, in the domain of existence specified by its properties as it is distinguished as a simple unity, and in the domain of existence specified by the properties of its components as it is distinguished as a composite unity. The entailment in the disntinction of a unity of its domain of existence as the domain of all the operational coherences in the praxis of living of the observer in which it conserves class identity and adaptation, is a constitutive condition of existence of every unity. A unity cannot exist outside its domain of existence, and if we imagine a unity outside its domain of existence, the unity that we imagine exists in a different domain than the unity that we claim that we imagine.
ix) Determinism. To say that a system in deterministic is to say that it operates according to the operational coherences of its domain of existence. And this is so because due to our constitutive inability to experientially distinguish between what we socially call perception and illusion, we cannot make any claim about an objective reality. This we acknowledge by putting objectivity in parenthesis. In other words, to say that a system is deterministic is to say that all its changes are structural changes that arise in it through the operation of the properties of its components in the interactions that these realize in its composition, and not through instructive processes in which as external agent specifies what happens in it. Accordingly, an operation or distinction that brings forth a simple unity brings forth its domain of existence as the domain of operational applicability of its properties, and constitutes the simple unity and its domain of existence as a deterministic system. At the same time, the operation of distinction that brings forth a composite unity brings forth its domain of existence as a domain of determinism in terms of the operational applicability of the properties that characterize its components, in the praxis of living of the observer. Accordingly, the operationa of distinction that brings forth a composite unity brings forth the composite unity as well as its domain of existence as deterministic systems in the corresponding domains of operational coherences of the praxis of living of the observer.
x) Space. The distinction of a unity brings forth it domain of existence as a space of distinctions whose dimensions are specified by the properties of the unities whose distinctions entail it as a domain of operational coherences in the praxis of living of the observer. Thus, a simple unity exists and operates in a space specified by its properties, and a composite unity exists and operate in a space specified by its properties as a simple unity if distinguished as such, and in a space specified by the properties of its components if distnguished as a composite one. Accordingly, as a simple unity exists and operates in a single space, a composite unity exists and operates in two. Finally, it follows that without the distinction of a unity there is no space, and that the notion of a unity out of space, as well as the notion of an empty space, are nonsensical. A space is a domain of distinctions.
xi) Interactions. Two simple unities interact when they, as a result of the interplay of their properties, and in a manner determined by such interplay, change their relative position in a common space or domain of distinctions. A composite unity interacts when some of its components as a result of their interactions as simple unities with other simple unities that are not its components, change their manner of composing it, such that it undergoes a structural change. It follows that a simple unity interacts in a single space that its properties define, and that a composite unity interacts in two, in the space defined by its propierties as simple unity, and in the space that its components define through their properties, also as simple unities, as they constitute its structure.
xii) Phenomenal domains. A space is constituted in the praxis of living of the observer when he or she performs a distinction. the constitution of a space brings forth a phenomenal domain as the domain of distinctions of the relations and interactions of the unities that the observer distinguishes as populating that space. A simple unity operates in a single phenomenal domain, the phenomenal domain constituted through the operation of its properties as a simple unity. A composite unity operates in two phenomenal domains, the phenomenal domain constituted through the operation of its properties as a simple unity, and the phenomenal domain constituted through the operation of the properties of its components, which is where its composition takes place. Furthermore, the two phenomenal domains in which a composite unity operates do not intersect and cannot be reduced one to the other because there is a generative relation between them. The phenomenal domain in which a composite unity operates as simple unity is secondary to the composition of the composite unity, and constitutes a metaphenomenal domain with respect to the phenomenal domain in which the composition takes place. Due to this circumstance a composite unity cannot participate as a simple unity in its own composition.
xiii) Medium, niche and environment. I call the medium of a unity the containing background of distinctions, including all that is not involved in its structure if it is a composite one, with respect to which an observer distinguishes it in his or her praxis of living, and in which it realizes its domain of existence. The medium includes both that part of the background that is distinguished by the observer as surrounding the unity, and that part of the background the observer conceives as interacting with it, and which it obscures in its operation in structural coupling (in its domain of existence). I call this latter part of the medium operationally defined moment by moment in its encounter with the medium in structural coupling, the niche of the unity. Accordingly, a unity continuously realizes and specifies its niche by actually operating in its domain of perturbations while conserving adaptation in the medium. As a consequence, the niche of a unity in not a fixed part of the medium in which a unity is distinguished, nor does it exist with independency of the unity that specifies it; it changes as the domain of interactions of the unity changes (if it is a comosite one) in its dynamics of structural change (section vi c). In these circumstances an observer can distinguish the niche of a unity, regardless of whether it is simple or composite, only by using of the unity as an indicator of it. Finally, I call the environment of a unity all that an observer distinguishes as surrounding it. In other words, while the niche is that part of the medium that a unity encounters (interacts with) in its operation in structural coupling, and obscures with its presence from the view of the observer, the environment is that part of the medium that an observer sees around a unity. Thus, a dynamic composite unity (like a living system), as it is distinguished in the praxis of living of the observer, is seen by this in an environment as an entity with a changing niche that it specifies while it slides through the medium in continuos structural change with conservation of class identity and adaptation. A composite unity in the medium is like a tight rope walker that moves on a rope in gravitational field, and conserves its balance (adaptation) while its shape (structure) changes in a manner congruent with the visual and gravitational interactions that it undergoes as it walks (realizing its niche), and falls when this stops being the case.
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