L'albero della conoscenza. Un nuovo meccanismo per spiegare le radici biologiche della conoscenza umana

by Humberto R. Maturana

Other authorsFrancisco Varela, Giulio Melone (Translator)
Paperback, 1995

Status

Available

Publication

Garzanti

Description

"Knowing how we know" is the subject of this book. Its authors present a new view of cognition that has important social and ethical implications, for, they assert, the only world we humans can have is the one we create together through the actions of our coexistence. Written for a general audience as well as for students, scholars, and scientists and abundantly illustrated with examples from biology, linguistics, and new social and cultural phenomena, this revised edition includes a new afterword by Dr. Varela, in which he discusses the effect the book has had in the years since its first publication.

User reviews

LibraryThing member abraxalito
A book with depth beyond any textbook I've read yet which looks like an easy reader at first sight. Very, very deceptive. Needs careful consideration as it bridges across so many traditional disciplines - who'd have thought a biologist could create a theory about love? To understand this book is to
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see the world in a profoundly changed way. I believe the two of them could have made it easier to understand - for example Hoffman has very similar ideas (radical constructivism) and manages to communicate more effectively. Autopoiesis is a cracking good theory with many many applications. I'm not sure though that Maturana is in favour of all of them... I wonder if Capra's broken ideas about social autopoiesis come straight from the horse's mouth?
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LibraryThing member georgeslacombe
Amazing book on the building of complexity in biological beings. Complexity in inherent of living things, how simple unicelular being evolved to more complex ones and how the nervous system works. I was not aware that a portuguese version was available, so I´ve bought this book based on the
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recommendation I´ve found in Daniel Dennet books. This book is cited in many other ones and should be read by everyone looking for a better understanding of biology basics.
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Language

Original publication date

1987

ISBN

9788811674900

Local notes

"Conoscere la conoscenza" è sempre stata una curiosità dell'uomo: oggi che gli studi sull'intelligenza artificiale tendono a "smontare" il meccanismo della conoscenza in piccoli segmenti riproducibili attraverso macchine, si sono aperte nuove e affascinanti direzioni di ricerca.
Maturana e Varela inseguono lo stesso problema ma da un punto di vista completamente diverso, biologico e globale. Secondo i due scienziati cileni, la conoscenza avviene per graduali modifiche della struttura degli organismi: è una prospettiva nuova ed estremamente affascinante, che porta a descrivere la conoscenza mediante una classica struttura ad albero sempre più ramificato.
(piopas)
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