CFP: Embedding Systems, Vol II. Yearbook for Philosophy of Complex Systems

Complexity research and complexity science is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the questi-
on of how patterns can emerge from diverse interactions between different components, in which
the number of unpredictable elements is enormous (Parrish & Edelstein-Keshet 1999: 99). A com-
plex system has a large population of units that, as a whole, exhibit non-trivial, emergent, and
self-organizing behavior. Complexity research is primarily concerned with the question of how
order arises from this emergent, self-organizing behavior (Mitchell 2009: 13) and how order para-
meters are created and made recognizable (Kruger, Verhoef, Preiser 2019).
The emergent and self-organizing behavior of a system occurs exclusively under the condition of
thermodynamic openness, i.e., the system must interact directly with its environment and be in
a state of non-equilibrium. This means that the systems interact with their environment via an
entropy flow. This directly leads to objects such as living or social systems that can only develop
and survive if they are embedded in their environment (Prigogine 1987: 97–103).
Due to their development in thermodynamic openness, they exhibit nonlinear behavior. The
exchange of information and energy between the environment and the system is correspondingly
complex. In this respect, the ontogenesis of a complex system, like morphogenesis, is based on an
exchange of information and energy between the system and its environment (Kaufmann 1993),
whereby the formation of structures tends to be an entropically negative process (Atlan, 1972).
In this regard, this issue aims to explore the thesis that the formation of complex structures and
their emergence requires an embedding relationship with the environment. This is not a neutral
environmental relationship in which the surrounding environment surrounds the surrounded, but
rather a positive or negative coupling relationship between the system and its environment (Uex-
küll 1909, Bertalanffy 1968, Simondon 1995). The formation of patterns is ecologically relational,
ontologically relational (Whitehead 1929), environmentally associative, and operationally closed
(Maturana, Varela 2000).

Emergence and self-organization through embedding
An ontological analysis of the concept of emergence shows that embedding in the environ-
ment enables the permanent emergence of new structures. The resulting ontological ques-
tions are, for example: How do individual variations in the environment gradually merge
into emergent properties? How can the relationship between different emergent levels be
described?
• Adaptation and intelligence through embedding in the environment
Self-regulation is an embedding process in which a system maintains itself by constantly
adapting to its changing environment. Empirical studies from the natural sciences and
mathematics are used for this purpose, in which simulations of physical model systems are
used to capture the non-trivial coupling to the environment and the “intelligent” capabilities
of the system.
• Ecological niches are complex embedding structures
Ecological niches are considered exemplary examples of the formation of such structures.
They encompass the environmental factors within which a species can perform its ecologi-
cal functions and thus develop. How does embedding behave in the formation of complex
systems?
• The form of embedding
Similarly, the shape of the embedding or the hollow form is an aesthetic aspect that plays an
essential role in the design. How can the form of embedding be described aesthetically and
phenomenologically?
• Embedding in social systems
Embedding should not only refer to organic or inorganic structures, but also to social systems.
How do social systems relate to embedding? What are some well-founded examples of social
systems in which embedding structures can be identified?