Name
Humberto Maturana Romesin
Introduction
Humberto Maturana was born in Chile in 1928. As a child, he was interested in animals and plants and grew up to be a biologist. In his work as a biologist, he raised fundamental philosophical questions that have had far-reaching transformational effect on fields such as psychotherapy, pedagogy, and management design.
Career
Maturana enrolled in University of Chile first studying medicine and then biology. He obtained a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation and studied anatomy and neurophysiology at University College London. In 1958 he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biology from Harvard University. Maturana received Chile’s National Prize for Natural Sciences. In 2000, he established his own center for reflection and research known as the Instituto de Formacion Matriztica.
Contributions to the Profession
Maturana and his student, Francisco Varela were the first to define the concept of “autopoiesis.” This term greatly...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Humberto, M. R., & Bernhard, P. (2004). The view of the systemicist: A conversation. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 17(4), 269–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720530490483167.
Leyland, M. L. (1988). An introduction to some of the ideas of Humberto Maturana. Journal of Family Therapy, 10(4), 357–374. https://doi.org/10.1046/j..1988.00323.x.
Schur, T. J. (2002). Supervision as a disciplined focus on self and not the other: A different systems model. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 24(3), 399–422.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Natrajan-Tyagi, R. (2019). Maturana, Humberto. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_755
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_755
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49423-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49425-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences