VARELA, Francisco. Principles of Biological Autonomy. 1979.

First edition.

Francisco Varela (1946 - 2001) was a Chilean neurobiologist whose work in theoretical biology and cognitive science had an influence far exceeding his initial fields of study and thus influenced the field of artificial intelligence research.

Francisco Varela’s Principles of Biological Autonomy was a groundbreaking text when it was first published in 1979, putting forth a novel theory of how living systems produce and maintain themselves.

This foundational book introduces the key concept of autonomy derived as an elaboration of the idea of autopoiesis (the self-production and self-distinction) of living organisms.

Varela covers topics in systems theory, neuroscience, theories of perception, and immune networks and offers a participatory epistemology that goes on to be further developed in later enactive literature. (The MIT Press, 2025).

These ideas are compelling not only for historical reasons but also because they still illuminate current efforts in developing the enactive approach toward wider and more challenging goals (including language, human cognition, ethics, and environmentalism).

Varela’s ideas continue to shape cognitive science through the ongoing development of the enactive approach, which today encompasses accounts of various aspects of cognition and is becoming an increasingly influential framework. Yet it’s often forgotten how deeply Varela’s work was grounded in a conception of biological autonomy. So much so, in fact, that the label enactivism is frequently invoked without reference to its foundational commitment to autonomy.