Re: umwelt

John J. Kineman (jjk@NGDC.NOAA.GOV)
Wed, 10 Jun 1998 09:23:38 -0600

This sounds very much like an attempt to distinguish an organism from the
system within which it exists. In ecology the appropriate concept is the
ecosystem. Since the theoretical concept of an ecosystem is "n-dimensional"
and therefore abstract (aside from operational definitions), the "medium,"
if it can be equated with the ecosystem, and therefore the "unity" equated
with an organism, spans both tangible and abstract dimensions. In
biological terms the dimensions are any characteristics along which natural
selection could occur. This is in keeping with the concept of the "niche"
as proposed by Hutchinson as an "n-dimensional hypervolume." This
corresponds with a functional view of the niche, which seems to be
Maturana's orientation. Hope this doesn't further confuse the issue.

At 10:07 PM 6/9/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Dear Alexei,
>You asked whether Maturana means 'medium'as physical environment or as
>internal model of the world developed by the animals etc.
>
>Perhaps neither, I think. As I understand it, is the concept of medium
>in a sense
>prior to the distinction between objective (physical) world
>and subjective (internal) model of it. IN a sense, I
>read it as comparable to Merleau-Ponty's concept of 'Flesh'
>(I am not sure if you like that one!;-))
>
>Here is a passage from Maturana, 1987, p. 340; perhaps
>you may come to an entirely different interpretation than
>I do!:
>
>"I call medium of a unity the containing background of
>distinctions, including all that is not involved in its
>structure if it is a composite one, (.....) in which it realizes its
>domain of existence. The medium includes both that part of the background
>that is distinguished by the observer as surrounding
>the unity, and that part of the background the observer
>conceives as interacting with it, and which it obscures in its
>operation in structural coupling (in its domain of existence).
>I call this latter part of the medium oeprationally defined
>moment by moment in its encounter with the medium
>in structural coupling, the _niche_ of the unity.
>Accordingly, a unity continuously realizes and specifies its
>niche by actually operating in its domain of perturbations
>while conserving adaptation in the medium."
>
>
>Best wishes,
>Arno Goudsmit
>
>
-----------------------------------------------
John J. Kineman, Physical Scientist/Ecologist
National Geophysical Data Center
325 Broadway E/GC1 (3100 Marine St. Rm: A-152)
Boulder, Colorado 80303 USA
(303) 497-6900 (phone)
(303) 497-6513 (fax)
jjk@ngdc.noaa.gov (email)
(303) 497-6513 (fax)