Hermitix The Work of Francisco Varela with Sebastjan Vörös
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Dec 13, 2023 Associate Professor of Philosophy Sebastjan Vörös discusses the work of Francisco Varela, delving into topics such as embodied cognition, neuro phenomenology, and the concept of Unevelt. They also explore Varela's personal experiences with liver transplant and recommend starting points for understanding his work.
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Mind-Nature Non-Duality Quest
- Varela sought to bridge the mind and nature without dualism, addressing the split between subjective and objective realities.
- He emphasized reintroducing life and circularity to overcome classical Cartesian science's limitations.
Autopoiesis and Life's Circularity
- Varela and Maturana's autopoiesis theory defines living systems as self-producing, self-maintaining networks.
- This circular dynamic underpins life’s identity as a process, not a static entity, central to biology and cognition.
Embodied Cognition and Enaction
- Organisms enact their own meaningful worlds by responding selectively to the environment to maintain internal coherence.
- This embodies cognition’s dynamic balance between centering in self and decentering into environment.