Humberto Maturana

Maturana’s theories intertwine biology and philosophy, society and emotions, in the study of the organization of living systems with a focus on coexistence among human beings.

Humberto Maturana Romecin was born in Santiago in 1928. He studied medicine and biology at the University of Chile and then specialized in anatomy and neurophysiology at University College in London. He received his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University in 1958.

In 1960 he arrived at the University of Chile as a biology professor. In 1965 he created the university’s Science Institute and Science Faculty.

Together with Francisco Varela, who was one of his pupils, he proposed the idea of autopoiesis – which refers to the properties of systems that reproduce themselves – applied to biology, thus laying the foundations for the so-called biology of cognition. Together, the two of them published “Of Machines and Living Beings” (1972) and “The Tree of Knowledge” (1984).

Maturana later wrote ““Emociones y lenguaje en educación y política” (Emotions and Language in Education and Politics) (1990), “El sentido de lo humano” (The Meaning of being Human) (1991), “Desde la biología a la psicología” (From Biology to Psychology) (1993), “La realidad, ¿objetiva o construida?” (Reality: Objective or Construed?) (1996) and “Transformación en la convivencia” (Transformation in coexistence) (1999), among other work. His ideas are part of the current known as constructivism that understands reality as a construct agreed upon by consensus in community, where the appearance of objectivity is created.

In Maturana’s mind, “reality of living creatures is in biology, as is the perception of and construction of reality.” This vision replaces the philosophical concept of objectivity with the idea of social construction. In emphasizing his “bio-philosophy,” the Chilean lays the foundations for “biology of cognition,” which among other complexities acknowledges language as a biological phenomenon.

Maturana is considered an international eminence and is constantly invited to high-level academic conferences. His numerous distinctions include receiving the Chilean Government’s National Prize for Biological Sciences in 1994.