Systems and Organizations Theoretical tools, conceptual distinctions and epistemological implications Leonardo Bich IAS-Research Centre for Life, Mind and Society, Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Avenida de Tolosa 70, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. email: leonardo.bich@ehu.es Abstract The aim of this paper is to present some system-theoretical notions ─ such as constraint, closure, integration, coordination, etc. ─ which have recently raised a renovated interest and have undergone a deep development, especially in those branches of philosophy of biology characterized by a systemic approach. The im- plications of these notions for the analysis and characterization of self-maintaining organizations will be discussed with the aid of examples taken from models of minimal living systems, and some conceptual distinctions will be provided. In the last part of the paper the epistemic implications of these ideas will be presented. 1. Introduction What is a system, and how can we characterize and identify it with respect to its background? Which are the relations and components that are crucial for its de- scription? Every domain of investigation makes different distinctions when identi- fying a system, and it is not just a question of scale: different kinds of relations are considered as pertinent in order to describe the phenomena or object of study, and different operations of partition are performed in order to extract the relevant components. Let us think for example of how many system domains can be found in a human body: from molecular and cellular ones, to systems including com- plexes of organs up to ecosystems populated by our bacterial symbionts. As a con- sequence, the same material entity can in principle be described in terms of differ- ent kinds of systems, each with specific components and organization. Indeed, the word “system” is almost never used alone, but it is usually paired with an adjective that specifies its domain of application: physical, chemical, bio- Published in G. Minati, M, Ambram, E. Pessa (eds.) (2016), Towards a Post-Bertalanffy Systemics, New York : Sprin- ger, 203-209.