Here, you can find a comparison of the main existing approaches to adaptive systems and environments, which demonstrates the contribution of the discovery and development of the unicist ontogenetic logic. Understanding “what for” adaptive systems function is essential to predict their behavior and ensure their effective management. Adaptive systems, whether natural or artificial, are dynamic, evolving entities influenced by their purpose, context, and internal functions.

Managing only their operationality addresses how they work but fails to explain why they evolve or achieve specific goals. By managing their causality, we can predict their functionality, enabling precise interventions and sustainable solutions. This approach is crucial for navigating complexity and ensuring adaptability in ever-changing environments.

Systems Theory 

Originated in the 1940s. Systems Theory addresses adaptive systems by analyzing them as wholes with interrelated parts, focusing on their structure, feedback loops, and homeostasis to maintain stability and achieve goals. It emphasizes open systems that exchange energy and information with their environment, enabling adaptation. However, it primarily describes how systems function through feedback and equilibrium rather than explaining why or what for, limiting its ability to address the causality of evolution and dynamics in complex adaptive systems.
Ludwig von Bertalanffy is the primary developer of General Systems Theory, which forms the foundation for understanding systems and their interactions.

Autopoiesis

Originated in the 1970s. Autopoiesis addresses adaptive systems by defining them as self-producing entities that maintain their identity through continuous regeneration of their components. It emphasizes structural coupling, where systems adapt to their environment while preserving internal coherence. Autopoietic systems are operationally closed, focusing on their self-referential processes. However, it lacks a framework to explain why adaptation occurs or the functional causality behind evolution, limiting its applicability to broader adaptive environments.
Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela developed the concept of autopoiesis to describe the self-organizing and self-maintaining nature of living systems.

Complexity Theory

Originated in the 1960s. Complexity Theory addresses adaptive systems by studying their emergent, non-linear behaviors arising from interactions among components. It focuses on how systems self-organize, adapt, and evolve in response to internal and external changes. Complexity Theory uses concepts like chaos, attractors, and feedback loops to explain adaptation. However, it primarily describes what happens in dynamic systems rather than providing a causal framework for why or what for these adaptations occur, limiting its ability to manage functional causality.
Key contributors include Henri Poincaré (early work on dynamical systems), Edward Lorenz (chaos theory), Ilya Prigogine (dissipative structures), and Stuart Kauffman (self-organization and complexity in biological systems).

Evolutionary Biology

Originated in the 1850s. Evolutionary Biology addresses adaptive systems by explaining their evolution through mechanisms like natural selection, genetic variation, and inheritance. It focuses on how organisms adapt to their environment over generations to enhance survival and reproduction. While it provides insights into how adaptation occurs, it does not address the functional causality or why systems are structured as they are, limiting its ability to explain the underlying purpose and dynamics of adaptive systems beyond biological contexts.
Charles Darwin laid the foundation with his theory of natural selection, further developed by Gregor Mendel (genetics), Ronald Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright (modern synthesis), and more recently by Stephen Jay Gould (punctuated equilibrium).

Unicist Ontogenetic Logic

Originated in the 1980s. The unicist ontogenetic logic addresses adaptive systems by defining their functionality, dynamics, and evolution through a triadic structure of purpose, active function, and energy conservation function. It establishes causal relationships via the supplementation and complementation laws, explaining why and what for systems adapt. It integrates external influences, like gravitational and catalytic forces, with internal dynamics, enabling the prediction and management of adaptive systems through their functionalist principles and binary actions.
Developed by Peter Belohlavek, who introduced the unicist ontogenetic logic as a framework for understanding and managing adaptive systems.

Here’s a comparative table highlighting key aspects of the five approaches to addressing adaptive systems:

Synthesis

The five approaches to adaptive systems vary significantly in scope and depth. Systems Theory (1940s, von Bertalanffy) focuses on feedback and homeostasis, addressing how systems maintain stability but lacking causality. Autopoiesis (1970s, Maturana & Varela) explains what living systems do to self-organize but lacks a causal framework. Complexity Theory (1960s-1980s, Lorenz, Prigogine, et al.) describes emergent, non-linear behaviors but doesn’t explain why or what for. Evolutionary Biology (1850s, Darwin) addresses adaptation through natural selection, focusing on how species evolve but limited to biological systems. The Unicist Ontogenetic Logic (1980s, Belohlavek) uniquely explains why, what for, and how adaptive systems function and evolve through its triadic structure of purpose, active function, and energy conservation, validated via destructive tests. It provides the most comprehensive causal framework.