Exploring the Temporal Consequences of Chasing the Elements in Rosen's Relational Diagrams

Abstract

In the work 'Life Itself', Rosen showed that a formal mechanism cannot be 'closed to efficient cause'. Additionally, he claimed that organisms are 'closed to efficient cause' and that, by logical extension, organisms cannot be mechanisms. This paper shows that it is possible for mechanisms to be 'nearly closed to efficient cause', with the requirement that some unentailed efficient-cause agents are placed inside the system. Populations of these 'nearly closed to efficient cause' systems can be defined based on the ability to isolate each component in its own 'reaction chamber'. Diagrams from these populations are drawn from a couple of different perspectives, and comments are made on how these diagrams can be related to the more conventional language of chemistry.

Rosen’s (M,R) system in process algebra

“…This insistence that no alternative mathematical expression of ( M,R ) has correctly captured the entailment structures has also been extended to practical attempts to simulate ( M,R ) on computers. For instance, Louie takes this stance [22] relative to the work of Prideaux [23,41], insisting it is merely a simulation of ( M,R ) and not a successful computation of the model. This issue of simulation versus modelling has also been a subject of much discussion in the field of autopoietic systems.…”

Kinetic Models of (M-R)-Systems

“…Minimal means the smallest system that can manifest the intended relationships. It was shown that larger systems may be possible where the reactions could be segregated into their own reaction chambers without other products forming (Prideaux 2007). The minimal (M, R)-system with this property was shown to have 7 components.…”