Department of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Department of Anthropology, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2023 Aug 7;381(2252):20220282. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0282. Epub 2023 Jun 19.
We show how distinct terminally disposed self-organizing processes can be linked together so that they collectively suppress each other's self-undermining tendency despite also potentiating it to occur in a restricted way. In this way, each process produces the supportive and limiting boundary conditions for the other. The production of boundary conditions requires dynamical processes that decrease local entropy and increase local constraints. Only the far-from-equilibrium dissipative dynamics of self-organized processes produce these effects. When two such complementary self-organizing processes are linked by a shared substrate-the waste product of one that is the necessary ingredient for the other-the co-dependent structure that results develops toward a self-sustaining target state that avoids the termination of the whole, and any of its component processes. The result is a perfectly naturalized model of teleological causation that both escapes the threat of backward influences and does not reduce teleology to selection, chemistry or chance. This article is part of the theme issue 'Thermodynamics 2.0: Bridging the natural and social sciences (Part 1)'.
我们展示了如何将不同的、最终处置的自组织过程联系在一起，使它们尽管也促进以受限的方式发生，但仍能共同抑制彼此自我破坏的倾向。通过这种方式，每个过程都为另一个过程产生支持和限制的边界条件。边界条件的产生需要减少局部熵并增加局部约束的动力过程。只有自组织过程的远离平衡耗散动力学才能产生这些效应。当两个这样的互补自组织过程通过共享基质（一个过程的废物，是另一个过程的必要成分）联系在一起时，所产生的相依结构会朝着一个自我维持的目标状态发展，从而避免整个系统及其任何组成过程的终止。其结果是一个完全自然化的目的论因果关系模型，既避免了向后影响的威胁，又没有将目的论简化为选择、化学或机会。本文是主题为“热力学 2.0：连接自然和社会科学（第 1 部分）”的一部分。
