Organization, Anticipation, and Closure in Markets and Science

The approach of some systems biologists, Robert Rosen in particular, to the understanding of biological systems calls for a focus on the organization of the processes internal to such systems, rather than on equilibrium states characterized in material terms and their state transitions viewed as taking place according to dynamical laws. A similar approach is possible for social systems. It is shown that the basic processes operative in both markets and science can be understood as being organized such that these systems exhibit material openness, process closure in the sense of a complete causal cycle, and anticipation based on the maintenance of an internal model of the system’s environment.