My presentation is dedicated to second-order cybernetics. It concentrates on self-referential, recursive, and reflexive processes that define the systems’ cognitive capabilities. The contribution of Heinz von Foerster, Francisco Varela, and Niklas Luhmann rendered the sciences concerned with objects that observe themselves. My talk will explore the ideas of the Soviet-American psychologist Vladimir Lefebvre, one of the most original thinkers in cybernetics who developed a systematic view of reflexivity, psyche, and cosmology. For him, reflexivity is a system’s capability to see itself through another system’s eyes. These reflexive systems constitute a “biocosmology” of biological, psychic, and social systems. The presentation will explore Lefebvre’s evolution from systems theory to neocosmist posthuman speculations.

Maxim Miroshnichenko is a Ph.D. in Philosophy (2019) and an associate professor at the American University of Central Asia. His interests revolve around cybernetics, systems theory, phenomenology, and posthumanism. He was a visiting scholar at Copenhagen University, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, and Texas Tech University.

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