Autogenesis: The Evolution of Self-Organizing Systems

Abstract

In order to study dynamic macrosystems like the biosphere, appropriate models are needed. Usually the mathematical models are most appreciated because of their unambiguous logic, relative structural simplicity and their well developed deductive verifiability. Nevertheless these elegant tools have some inherent drawbacks. They are not flexible enough, usually not suitable to describe really complex phenomena and they are not creative in a broader sense. Therefore the first step in model building is always to construct an intuitive model which, by its nature, is able to embody ambiguities, contradictions and descriptions on different levels. The intuitive model therefore might be appropriate to reflect a satisfactorily complex part of reality, securing the possibility of a further, more rigorous mathematical treatment. Theories of enormous influence such as behaviorism and the theory of evolution were nonmathematical and their impact far exceeded those occasional mathematical constructions which appeared later in their development and covered only particular aspects. It is also well known that logico-mathematical theories are tautological in the sense that they are derived analytically from a set of axioms and therefore they are unsuitable to prove the validity of an intuitive theory. In many cases the bright armor of mathematics only helps to delay the recognition of the inherent weakness of the intuitive theory. This does not mean at all that mathematical models are useless in biology, we only want to emphasize the basic primacy of the models of intuitive kinds in relation to mathematical ones which are only auxiliary tools and are not able to exceed the former.