Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary Synthesis
The New Evolutionary Synthesis (NES) groups a series of theories that, departing from the gene-centric approach of Modern Synthesis evolutionary theory (MS), place the organism as the central agent of evolution. Two versions of NES, each one with advantages and disadvantages, can be distinguished in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Entropy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/24/7/914 |
| _version_ | 1797433594025607168 |
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| author | Mario Villalobos Ramiro Frick Sergio Vicencio-Jimenez |
| author_facet | Mario Villalobos Ramiro Frick Sergio Vicencio-Jimenez |
| author_sort | Mario Villalobos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The New Evolutionary Synthesis (NES) groups a series of theories that, departing from the gene-centric approach of Modern Synthesis evolutionary theory (MS), place the organism as the central agent of evolution. Two versions of NES, each one with advantages and disadvantages, can be distinguished in this regard; the restrictive NES and the comprehensive NES. Comparatively, the comprehensive NES is a more robust theoretical construction than the restrictive one because it comes grounded on a general, thermodynamically informed theory of living beings (something that the restrictive NES lacks). However, due to its strong teleological commitments, the comprehensive NES has serious problems fitting with modern science’s methodological framework; a problem that the restrictive version, with no explicit commitment to teleology, does not face. In this paper, we propose the autopoietic approach to evolution as a way of integrating these two versions of NES, combining the theoretical robustness of the comprehensive view with the methodological appropriateness of the restrictive one. The autopoietic approach, we show, offers a non-teleological, organism-centered theory of evolution, namely the natural drift theory (NDT), and a grounding on a thermodynamic theory of living beings, namely the embodied autopoietic theory (EAT). We conclude that, from the programmatic point of view, an autopoietic (NDT plus EAT) approach to evolution offers a promising way to develop the NES project. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:19:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e699c3c2c3240388e1d02dacc433b6c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1099-4300 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:19:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Entropy |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e699c3c2c3240388e1d02dacc433b6c2023-12-01T22:06:42ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002022-06-0124791410.3390/e24070914Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary SynthesisMario Villalobos0Ramiro Frick1Sergio Vicencio-Jimenez2Escuela de Psicología y Filosofía, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica 1010069, ChileDepartment of Philosophy, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago 6500620, ChileThe Center for Hearing and Balance, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USAThe New Evolutionary Synthesis (NES) groups a series of theories that, departing from the gene-centric approach of Modern Synthesis evolutionary theory (MS), place the organism as the central agent of evolution. Two versions of NES, each one with advantages and disadvantages, can be distinguished in this regard; the restrictive NES and the comprehensive NES. Comparatively, the comprehensive NES is a more robust theoretical construction than the restrictive one because it comes grounded on a general, thermodynamically informed theory of living beings (something that the restrictive NES lacks). However, due to its strong teleological commitments, the comprehensive NES has serious problems fitting with modern science’s methodological framework; a problem that the restrictive version, with no explicit commitment to teleology, does not face. In this paper, we propose the autopoietic approach to evolution as a way of integrating these two versions of NES, combining the theoretical robustness of the comprehensive view with the methodological appropriateness of the restrictive one. The autopoietic approach, we show, offers a non-teleological, organism-centered theory of evolution, namely the natural drift theory (NDT), and a grounding on a thermodynamic theory of living beings, namely the embodied autopoietic theory (EAT). We conclude that, from the programmatic point of view, an autopoietic (NDT plus EAT) approach to evolution offers a promising way to develop the NES project.https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/24/7/914modern evolutionary synthesisautopoietic theorynatural drift theorynew evolutionary synthesisteleologythermodynamics |
| spellingShingle | Mario Villalobos Ramiro Frick Sergio Vicencio-Jimenez Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary Synthesis Entropy modern evolutionary synthesis autopoietic theory natural drift theory new evolutionary synthesis teleology thermodynamics |
| title | Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary Synthesis |
| title_full | Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary Synthesis |
| title_fullStr | Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary Synthesis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary Synthesis |
| title_short | Autopoiesis, Thermodynamics, and the Natural Drift of Living Beings: Another Way to the New Evolutionary Synthesis |
| title_sort | autopoiesis thermodynamics and the natural drift of living beings another way to the new evolutionary synthesis |
| topic | modern evolutionary synthesis autopoietic theory natural drift theory new evolutionary synthesis teleology thermodynamics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/24/7/914 |
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