From Mesocosmos To Cosmos: Man In Search Of His Oikos

Abstract

This study draws on the cybernetic concept of living beings’ presence in the natural environment formulated by Jakob von Uexküll, which points to the cognitive basis for the presence of a living being in its surroundings. In this perspective, living beings are perceived as subjects, since they transform their surroundings into an environment which is optimal for their survival in the world of average measurements, called mesocosmos. Thus understood, mesocosmos is synonymous with both the ecological and cognitive niche of a living being. Consequently, we can say that living beings, in the course of their characteristic pursuit of a better world, find only such a world that matches their cognitive and behavioral abilities. This, in turn, means that the basic level of knowledge about the reality achieved by living beings expresses the utilitarian nature of that knowledge; in this respect, it is genetically determined and is, therefore, a function of a species’ aspiration to survive in the mesocosmic environment. In this context, the uniqueness of man, who due to his remarkable cognitive abilities is able to transcend the mesocosmos, becomes clearly evident. This transcendence is achieved, in particular, through scientific knowledge which is, in a sense, unlimited and points to the fact that human environment comprises (can comprise), in fact, the whole universe.

Keywords

• man
• mesocosmos
• cosmos
• oikos
• Jakob von UexkĂźll