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Understanding Origins

Contemporary Views on the Origins of Life, Mind and Society

  • Book
  • © 1992

Overview

Editors:
  1. Francisco J. Varela

    1. École Polytechnique, CREA, Paris, France

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  2. Jean-Pierre Dupuy

    1. École Polytechnique, CREA, Paris, France

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 130)

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. Understanding Origins: An Introduction

    1. Understanding Origins: An Introduction

      • Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Francisco J. Varela
      Pages 1-25

  3. Origins: A View from the Literature

    1. Origins: A View from the Literature

      • René Girard
      Pages 27-42

  4. Violence: The Origin of Social Order

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 43-43
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    2. Supplement to Apocalypse: Girard and Derrida

      • Andrew J. McKenna
      Pages 45-76

    3. A Morphogenetic Hypothesis on the Closure of Post-Structuralism

      • Paul Dumouchel
      Pages 77-90

    4. Girard and the Origin of Culture

      • Paisley Livingston
      Pages 91-110

  5. The Origin of Money: Symbols and Texts

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111
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    2. The Origin of Money

      • André Orléan
      Pages 113-143

    3. Primitive Money, Modern Money

      • Jean-Joseph Goux
      Pages 145-149

  6. Evolution and the Diversity of Life

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 151-151
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    2. Origins of Order in Evolution: Self-Organization and Selection

      • Stuart A. Kauffman
      Pages 153-181

    3. Optimization in Question

      • John Dupré
      Pages 183-190

    4. Incorporating Origins into Evolutionary Theory

      • Daniel R. Brooks
      Pages 191-212

    5. The Evolution of Generic Forms

      • Brian C. Goodwin
      Pages 213-226

    6. Is Phylogeny Recapitulating Ontogeny?

      • Susan Oyama
      Pages 227-232

  7. Perception and the Origin of Cognition

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 233-233
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    2. Whence Perceptual Meaning? A Cartography of Current Ideas

      • Francisco J. Varela
      Pages 235-263

    3. Perception, Connectionism, and Cognitive Science

      • Christine A. Skarda
      Pages 265-271

    4. The Original and the Copy

      • Umberto Eco
      Pages 273-303
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Keywords

About this book

The main intention of this book is to bring together contributions from biology, cognitive science, and the humanities for a joint exploration of some of the main contemporary notions dealing with the understanding of origins in life,mind and society. The question of origin is inseparable from a web of hypotheses that both shape and explain us. Although origin invites examination, it always seems to elude our grasp. Notions have always been produced to interpret the genesis of life, mind, and the social order, and these notions have all remained unstable in the face of theoretical and empirical challenges. In any given period, the central ideas on origin have had a mutual resonance frequently overlooked by specialists engaged in theirown particular fields. As a consequence, this book should be of interest to a wide audi­ ence. In particular, for all those engaged in the social sciences and the philosophy of science, it is unique document, since bridges to the natural sciences in a mutually illuminating way are hard to find. Whether as a primary source or as inspirational reading, we feel this book has a place in every library. The material comes from an international meeting held in September 13-16, 1987 at Stanford University, organized by F. Varela and J.-P. Dupuy at the request of the Program of Interdisciplinary Research of Stanford University. We are grateful to Rene Girard, the Program Director, for making it possible with the help of the Mellon Foundation.

Editors and Affiliations

  • École Polytechnique, CREA, Paris, France

    Francisco J. Varela, Jean-Pierre Dupuy

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