自创生理论40年:回顾和思考

40Years of Autopoiesis Theory:Review and Contemplation

为了解释生命的本质,马图拉纳和瓦雷拉在20世纪70年代提出了自创生理论。该理论认为,生命系统是一个空间上有界的物理系统,系统的边界由一个半透性膜构成,而边界膜以及膜内系统结构的构成成分都是由作为该系统的一个组成部分的反应网络所生产和制造的。简言之,生命系统是自我生产和自我制造的系统。自创生理论提出后,关于自创生的计算建模和化学建模的研究也随之发展起来。20世纪80年代社会学家卢曼又提出了"社会自创生"的观念,试图将自创生理论从物理空间的生命系统扩展到非物理空间的社会系统。社会自创生的观念在学界引发了广泛争论,其中的核心问题是:作为生命个体层次之上的社会系统的存在形态和组织形式是怎样的?社会系统是存在论意义上的自创生系统吗?还是"社会自创生"不过是一种隐喻意义上的说法?与一阶细胞、二阶多细胞有机体相比,该如何理解三阶社会系统的成分、边界和代谢?从分子、细胞到人再到社会系统,随着这些系统复杂性水平的增加,是否存在超出人类观察和理解的更高阶的系统,这样的系统是自创生的并且有生命吗?关于这些问题,学界目前主要持有三种观点:其一,社会系统在存在论上是自创生的;其二,社会系统是组织闭合的,但非自创生的;其三,社会系统在隐喻意义上是自创生的。围绕着这些问题,回顾了自创生理论过去40余年的主要进展,特别是聚焦社会自创生的主要争论,探讨了社会系统的存在形态和组织形式。

In order to explain the nature of life,Maturana and Varela put forward the autopoiesis theory in 1970 s.It suggests that living system is a bounded system in the physical domain.Its boundary is constituted by a semi-permeable membrane,and the membrane and the components of the system＇structure are produced and made by the reaction networks of the components.In short,living system is a self-producing and self-making system.After that,there raised the study of the computational and chemical models on autopoiesis theory.In 1980 s,the sociologist Luhmann came up with the concept of＂social autopoiesis＂which attempts to extend the theory from living system in the physical domain to social system in the non-physical domain.The idea of social autopoiesis gave rise to a widespread debate which focuses on these essential questions：What are the existing and organisational forms of the social system above the individual level of life？Is the social system an autopoietic system in the ontological sense or is ＂social autopoiesis＂just a statement in the metaphorical sense compared to the first-order cells and second-order multi-cells？How do we understand the components,boundary and metabolism of the thirdorder social system from molecules,cells,human beings to social system？Is there a higher order system out of human＇s observation and understanding as the complexities levels increase？Is such a system autopoietic and alive？As for these questions,there are three stances among the researchers.Firstly,the social system is autopoietic in the ontological sense;Secondly,the social system is organisational closure but not autopoietic;Thirdly,social system is autopoietic in the metaphorical sense.Focusing on these questions,this paper aims to briefly review the development of autopoiesis theory in the past forty years,especially concentrating on the main dispute on social autopoiesis and investigating the existing and organisational forms of the social system.