ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Self-Organization is defined as the unsupervised constitution of a form (primary Self-Organization), or the restructuring and complexification of an existing form (secondary Self-Organization). The new form that emerges through Self-Organization originates in the process of organization, which is characterized by the interaction of the system’s elements and is not due to the initial conditions of those elements. In primary Self-Organization, within a configuration and a possible framework of rules, a macro-agent acts upon itself (similar to Althusser’s “process without a subject”). In contrast, secondary Self-Organization occurs when an already organized system acts upon itself in such a way as to obtain a higher level of complexity. If there emerges an agent that directs the process, it is no longer a case of Self-Organization, but of hetero-organization.
