abstract: Living systems are thermodynamically open but closed in their organization.
  In other words, even though their material components turn over constantly, a material-independent
  property persists, which we call organization. Moreover, organization comes from
  within organisms themselves, which requires us to explain how this self-organization
  is established and maintained. In this paper we propose a mathematical and conceptual
  framework to understand the kinds of organized systems that living systems are,
  aiming to explain how self-organization emerges from more basic elemental processes.
  Additionally, we map our own notions to existing traditions in theoretical biology
  and philosophy, aiming to bring the main formal ideas into conceptual congruence.
archiveprefix: arXiv
authors:
- Márquez-Zacarías, Pedro
- Ortiz-Muñoz, Andrés
- Bingham, Emma P
eprint: '2503.03950'
journal: arXiv [q-bio.QM]
lastmod: '2025-03-05'
path: /library/marquez-zacarias-2025.html
primaryclass: q-bio.QM
published: '2025-03-05'
reference: Márquez-Zacarías 2025
title: The nature of organization in living systems
type: article
year: 2025