The Self-Organizing Universe: Scientific and Human Implications of the Emerging Paradigm of Evolution

by Erich Jantsch

Book Overview

The evolution of the universe - ranging from cosmic and biological to sociocultural evolution - is viewed in terms of the unifying paradigm of self-organization. The contours of this paradigm emerge from the synthesis of a number of important, recently developed concepts, and provide a scientific foundation to a new world-view which emphasizes process over structure, nonequilibrium over equilibrium, evolution over permanency, and individual creativity...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0080243118
• ISBN13: 9780080243115
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Pergamon
• Length: 343 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Genuine Wonderment

This book is unlike any other publication I have ever looked at. Jantsch synthesizes scientific facts from numerous fields of study, and does so in a surprisingly coherent manner. While reading through the pages, I wondered, where has this book been my entire life? Why didn't somebody tell me this book existed? I stumbled into this volume accidently, and to my good fortune. Reductionism is a useful paradigm, but certainly not a comprehensive one. Jantsch drills this point home. The strength of this book isn't just the fact that it makes a very strong argument for a self-organizing universe. It's the fact that Jantsch does so with a unique combination of hard facts, experimental evidence, analytical arguments, coherent synthesis, profound humanity and even a bit of poetry. I'm not trying to be dramatic and sappy, it's really true. I can almost feel how much this book meant to Jantsch, and how he knew, deep down, that he was on to something very important. There was something special about Jantsch, and something special about this book. If you read this book, and are still convinced that the universe is purely a meaningless "mechanistic machine" then I feel very sorry for you.

Erich Jantsch, The Self-Organizing Universe

I just want to agree with the four earlier reviewers. I think I found Jantsch's book in 1985, and to me life has never been the same afterwards. Jantsch taught me that the world is like me, I am no stranger living in a strange world that is cold and hostile (Monod). Since then I've left my research object, literature, and spent my time reading and writing, following his steps. The result can be seen on my website www.lagerroth.com. I, too, copied the whole book, but afterwards I found a German paperback edition: Die Selbstorganisation des Universums (3 ed 1986, from original hardcover 1979). Maybe it is still in print.

The self-organizing reviewer

It's a shame this book is out of print. No longer up-to-date on every detail, but still ahead of the curve on the big picture. Jantsch uses self-organizing systems theory to tie cosmic, geological, biological and cultural evolution together into a unified vision. A book of science with profound social and (to my mind) spiritual implications. Certainly worth the used softcover price, although be warned, the Pergamon softcover binding tends to crack and fall apart (I went through two of them). But at $300+ the hardcover is definately for the serious buyer only (I was lucky and bought mine in the mid-eighties at Powell's for $40). You might also check out Fritjof Capra's 1996 'The Web of Life'. It's an updated version of 'The Self-Organizing Universe' (see page 111: "My own synthesis of these concepts in the present book is, in a sense, a reformulation of Erich Jantsch's earlier work.") Also recommended: any books by Ervin Lazslo, Ilya Prigogine or James Lovelock.

One of the most important achievements of 20th century..

For me, this book is the thing that changed my view upon the universe. Before this book, I was a critical reductionist with a mechanistic view. I am too short of English to express what this book was for me :) but the only thing I can tell you is that if there were only one book that I could have in my life, this book would be that one.. I can't estimate the value of this, surely one of the most important achievements of 20th century..

Why is this out of print?

This book and Chaitin's "The Limits of Mathematics" should be printed in softcover and distributed at supermarkets. This is perhaps one of the most important books of the 20th century, simply because Jantsch has managed to finally put a very large amount of information (just the reading list is worth the price of the book) in one place. Thermodynamics, cybernetics, mathematics, computing, physics...they've all been saying the same thing for years now and for some reason we irrationally ignore the message: the TRUTH is not to be found in a formal system based on anything resembling the Aristotelian logic we of the Western world love so dearly...And the deeper we wallow in our mythical constructions the more likely we won't be around for very long.This is not a "lite" book; perhaps that is why the copy I have (an inspection copy from a major university) has only been taken out seven times since 1980! Pathetic considering the current hand-waving taking place in AI (particularly the work of Dennett and the Churchlands) and the philosophy of mind. The only other place to find the overview is in Leduc's IEEE paper "Human Knowledge: can the planet survive human rationality?". Perlovsky's work in cybernetics is also an excellent place to see similar results.It is unfortunate this is out of print; perhaps you can find a copy in a library. Better yet, start bugging the publisher to reprint it.