A phenomenology of perception from autopoiesis of Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela

Abstract

In this article I intend to present the Autopoiesis a theory formulated by biologist Humberto Maturana and by medical Francisco Varela. Besides showing the similarities between the organic process and epistemological process present in this theory. I seek to emphasize the importance of Autopoiesis not only scientific field, while epistemological theory, but also in the ethical and cultural, as a theory that emerges from the internal dynamics of living being as a unit (autopoietic) to the importance of their interaction with the surrounding world. So, I describe the formation of the cognitive process through the autopoietic foundation and core concepts such as border membrane, metabolism dynamic, operationally closed system, structural coupling and natural drift. The Autopoiesis demonstrate that the cognitive experience of the observer is intrinsic to their biological structure, emphasizing thus the role of observer and questioning the validity of their certainty about what is proposed to observe. The purpose of this paper is therefore to bring the discussion about how and know about the learning process and the influence of man’s biological structure and all the myriad factors that are involved in the extensive network of life that will be considered here, factors that are, above all, biological and cultural.