Self-organization: What is it, what isn't it, and What's it got to do with morphogenesis?

Abstract

This chapter provides basic definitions of self-organization and the terms most frequently associated with it within the theory from which it originated: Complexity theory. Using these definitions, I draw out the consistent meta-theoretical assumptions on which the assertions and practice of complexity theory in the natural sciences have been based. One in particular is highlighted: the causal relation between elements and relations between relations. This, I argue, is a crucial ontological premise of self-organization. In relating self-organization and morphogenesis, I concentrate on this broadly shared meta-theoretical assumption, showing that the causal social relation has also been consistently important as an ontological premise in morphogenesis. The chapter concludes that only through philosophical analysis of the possibility of a meta-theory underpinning the concepts of both naturalistic complexity and social science can self-organization be successfully integrated into social science.