Whence perceptual meaning?

a cartography of current ideas

Francisco Varela

pp. 235-263

in: Francisco Varela, Jean-Pierre Dupuy (eds), Understanding origins, Berlin, Springer, 1992

Abstract

This essay was written for the purpose of providing a minimal common ground for discussion. It is, of necessity, an ambitious attempt to give a concise account of the various current ideas on the origin of meaning in living and artificial systems in such a way that it is accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, and yet substantive enough to produce debate among the specialists. I apologize at the outset to both groups for passages that will seem irritatingly simple or too abstruse.