AUTOCATALYSIS AS THE NATURAL PHILOSOPHY UNDERLYING COMPLEXITY AND BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

The importance and different aspects of autocatalysis in evolution was analyzed. The behaviour of autocatalytic reactions mainly the Lotka-Volterra and the Schlogl equations were discussed in terms of phase change, entropy, and their oscillation frequency. The increase of complexity as the general direction of evolution was examined on some patterns in terms of both their entropy and information content. In addition, the relation between stability and functionality, stability and cohesion were discussed. It was concluded that evolution drifts in the direction of increasing complexity as a kind of natural philosophy to counteract the increase of entropy in the universe.