Work-Constraint (W-C) cycle - Stuart Kauffman

decisive insights have emerged from more recent literature that elaborates more explicitly on the “thermodynamic grounding” of biological systems (Bickhard, 2000; Christensen & Hooker, 2000; Moreno & Ruiz Mirazo, 1999) and the relations between closure and openness. In particular, Stuart Kauffman (2000) argues that biological organization implies a circular relationship between work and constraints, in the form of what he labels a “work-constraint (W-C) cycle.” When a (W-C) cycle is realized, constraints that apply to the system are produced and maintained by the system itself. Hence, the system needs to use the work generated by the constraints in order to generate those very constraints, by establishing a mutual relationship – a cycle – between constraints and work.