Publication 548

This is apparently the original English manuscript (or a revised version thereof) first published in Spanish translation as Maturana H. R. & Varela F. J. (1973) De máquinas y seres vivos: Autopoiesis: La organización de lo vivo. It was subsequently republished as the second section in Maturana H. R. & Varela F. J. (1980) Autopoiesis and cognition: The realization of the living: 63–134 under the title “Autopoiesis: The organization of the living,” with a preface by Stafford Beer. The arrangement of the 1980 republication indicates the Stafford Beer preface and Glossary were components of this paper. Citations and annotations by Milan Zeleny and Albert Müller indicate Beer’s preface first appeared in this 1975 publication. German translation “Autopoietische Systeme: Eine Bestimmung der lebendigen Organisation” in Maturana H. R. (1982) Erkennen: Die Organisation und Verkörperung von Wirklichkeit. Ausgewählte Arbeiten zur biologischen Epistemologie. [Knowledge: The organization and embodiment of reality. Selected works on biological epistemology]. Translated by Wolfram K. Köck: 170–235.