“VARIABLE-STRUCTURE SYSTEMS, BIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA, AND ORGANISATIONS” by Maurício Vieira Kritz (LNCC-CNPq, Petropolis, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)

Characteristics of living phenomena that interest   biologists are generally described by systems of variable structure; which are systems whose dimension or interconnection between variables change along its evolution in time. I shall discuss the usual treatment of such systems, how it hinders biological thinking, and introduce organisations — a generalisation of the system’s concept tailored to support biological thinking.