Author Guide · Philosophy of Mind
Books Written by
In 1973 two Chilean biologists, Humberto Maturana and his former student Francisco Varela, published a short book in Spanish, De máquinas y seres vivos, that introduced a new word for what makes a living thing alive: autopoiesis, a system that produces itself. Varela, born in Talcahuano in 1946 and trained at Harvard, went on to lead a research group at the CNRS in Paris, to practise Tibetan Buddhism, and in 1987 to co-found the Mind and Life Institute, which began by bringing scientists into dialogue with the Dalai Lama. His 1991 book with Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch, The Embodied Mind, helped start the “embodied cognition” movement. He died in Paris in 2001, aged 54. This guide covers his 6 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 6 key books · 1980–1999 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Francisco Varela wrote, co-wrote or co-edited more than a dozen books. The six key ones are Autopoiesis and Cognition (1980, with Humberto Maturana), The Tree of Knowledge (1987, with Maturana), The Embodied Mind (1991, with Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch), Gentle Bridges (1992), Ethical Know-How (1999) and Naturalizing Phenomenology (1999). Start with The Embodied Mind; read on for where autopoiesis, Buddhism and his ethics fit in.
Where to Start with Francisco Varela
If you want his most influential book
→ The Embodied Mind (1991) — mind, body and Buddhist practice.
If you want the biology behind his thinking
→ The Tree of Knowledge (1987) — autopoiesis for all forms of life.
If you want his ethics
→ Ethical Know-How (1999) — ethics as practical skill.
If you want his talks with the Dalai Lama
→ Gentle Bridges (1992).
6 Francisco Varela Books, in Order
Autopoiesis and Cognition
Written with his teacher Humberto Maturana and published by Reidel in 1980. It sets out autopoiesis, the idea that a living system is defined by the way it continually produces itself, a concept the two men first put forward in Spanish in De máquinas y seres vivos (1973). Fritjof Capra’s The Web of Life (1996) later carried the idea to a wide readership.
The Tree of Knowledge
First published in Spanish in 1984 as El árbol del conocimiento: Las bases biológicas del conocer humano, and in English by Shambhala in 1987, with a foreword by the biologist J. Z. Young; a revised edition followed in 1992. Written again with Maturana, it extends autopoietic theory to all forms of life.
The Embodied Mind
Published by MIT Press in 1991, it was one of the first books to propose the “embodied cognition” approach and introduced a form of cognitive science called “enaction”. It connects phenomenology with science and Buddhist practice with science, arguing that the sciences of mind must include lived human experience. A revised edition (2017) adds new introductions by Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch and a preface by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Gentle Bridges
Edited with Jeremy Hayward and published by Shambhala in 1992. Its 2014 subtitle describes it as conversations with the Dalai Lama on the sciences of mind, the kind of dialogue the Mind and Life Institute, which Varela co-founded in 1987, was set up to sponsor.
Ethical Know-How
Published by Stanford University Press in 1999. It looks at how much of our everyday action runs unconsciously, below deliberate choice, and contrasts rule-based ethics with “enaction”. Drawing on phenomenology and on Confucian and Buddhist thought, it proposes an ethics grounded in practical skill, or savoir faire, and starts from the view that there is no transcendental self, stable subject or soul.
Naturalizing Phenomenology
An edited volume published by Stanford University Press in 1999, co-edited with Jean Petitot, Bernard Pachoud and Jean-Michel Roy. Its title names the question it addresses: whether phenomenology, the philosophical study of experience, can be brought within the natural sciences.
In What Order to Read Francisco Varela
The books follow the arc of his career: first the biology of living systems with Humberto Maturana (Autopoiesis and Cognition, The Tree of Knowledge), then the turn to mind, experience and Buddhist practice (The Embodied Mind), then dialogue with the Dalai Lama (Gentle Bridges) and the late work on ethics and phenomenology (Ethical Know-How, Naturalizing Phenomenology).
Most readers will find The Embodied Mind the best way in; the revised 2017 edition has introductions that explain its arguments and how later research tested them. Autopoiesis and Cognition and Naturalizing Phenomenology are technical and best left until later.
A reading path
1. The Embodied Mind (1991)
2. The Tree of Knowledge (1987)
3. Ethical Know-How (1999)
4. Gentle Bridges (1992)
Everything Else Francisco Varela Published
Beyond the 6 key books: 7 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Biology and cognitive science
5
5 books · 1973–1993
- 1973De máquinas y seres vivoswith Humberto Maturana, in Spanish; the book that first proposed autopoiesis
- 1979Principles of Biological Autonomyhis first solo book
- 1988Connaître: Les Sciences Cognitivesin French, published by Éditions du Seuil
- 1992Towards a Practice of Autonomous Systemsedited with Paul Bourgine, MIT Press
- 1993Thinking About Biologyedited with Wilfred Stein, Addison-Wesley
Mind, experience and Buddhism
2
2 books · 1997–1999
- 1997Sleeping, Dreaming and Dyingedited by Varela, Wisdom Books
- 1999The View from Withinedited with Jonathan Shear, Imprint Academic
The years · 1946–2001
Quick facts about Francisco Varela
- Known for
- Francisco Varela is known for introducing autopoiesis to biology with Humberto Maturana and for the enactive, embodied view of mind that joins cognitive science with phenomenology and Buddhist meditation.
- 1946
- Born in Talcahuano, Chile
- 1970
- PhD in biology, Harvard
- 2001
- Dies in Paris, aged 54
- Born
- 7 September 1946, Talcahuano, Chile
- Died
- 28 May 2001, Paris, France
- Education
- Biology degree, University of Chile; PhD in biology, Harvard (1970)
- Career
- Taught in Chile and, from 1986, in France (École Polytechnique, University of Paris); director of research at the CNRS from 1988
- Co-founded
- The Mind and Life Institute, with R. Adam Engle, in 1987
- Practice
- Tibetan Buddhism from the 1970s, with Chögyam Trungpa and later Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
- Family
- Four children, among them the actress Leonor Varela
The red mark is 1991: The Embodied Mind, the book that helped start the embodied cognition movement.
How Francisco Varela Writes: A Biologist Who Took Experience Seriously
Varela wrote as a working scientist, and much of his work was written with others: two books with Humberto Maturana, The Embodied Mind with Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch, and several edited volumes. The early books, with Maturana, define life as autopoiesis, a system that keeps producing itself, and The Tree of Knowledge extends that theory to all forms of life.
From the late 1980s his books add a second source of evidence: first-person experience. The Embodied Mind connects Buddhist practice with science and insists that the sciences of mind must include lived human experience; his later work on neurophenomenology asked observers to examine their own conscious experience with methods that can be checked scientifically. Ethical Know-How applies the same approach to ethics, treating it as skilled action rather than rule-following.
His link to non-duality is stated plainly in his own books. The Embodied Mind argues that mind is not the grasping of an independent, outside world by a separate self, and Ethical Know-How starts from the view that there is no stable subject or soul. He practised Tibetan Buddhism, with Chögyam Trungpa and later the Dzogchen teacher Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. For his co-author’s own books, see Evan Thompson; for the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction, who wrote the preface to the revised Embodied Mind, see Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Watch
Francisco Varela on La belleza de pensar
Cristián Warnken interviews Francisco Varela on the Chilean television programme La belleza de pensar in 1997, in Spanish; the recording was recovered and digitised by University of Chile philosophy students. From the official ENIGMA_UChile channel.
Frequently asked questions about Francisco Varela’s books
How many books has Francisco Varela written?
He wrote, co-wrote or edited 13 books listed on this page: six key books, from Autopoiesis and Cognition (1980) to Naturalizing Phenomenology (1999), and seven others, including the Spanish original De máquinas y seres vivos (1973). Most of them were written or edited with others.
What are Francisco Varela’s books in order?
The six key books are Autopoiesis and Cognition (1980), The Tree of Knowledge (1987; Spanish 1984), The Embodied Mind (1991), Gentle Bridges (1992), Ethical Know-How (1999) and Naturalizing Phenomenology (1999).
Where should I start with Francisco Varela?
With The Embodied Mind, written with Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch, preferably in the revised 2017 edition with its new introductions. For the biology behind it, read The Tree of Knowledge next.
What is Francisco Varela’s most famous book?
The Embodied Mind (1991), one of the first books to propose the embodied cognition approach. In biology he is best known for The Tree of Knowledge and Autopoiesis and Cognition, both with Humberto Maturana.
What is autopoiesis?
A term Maturana and Varela introduced to biology, first in De máquinas y seres vivos (1973): a living system is one that continually produces and maintains itself. Fritjof Capra’s The Web of Life (1996) later popularised the idea.
Did Francisco Varela found the Mind and Life Institute?
Yes. He co-founded it in 1987 with R. Adam Engle. It began by sponsoring dialogues between scientists and the Dalai Lama on modern science and Buddhism, and now supports research on the mind and contemplative practice.
Was Francisco Varela a Buddhist?
Yes. He practised Tibetan Buddhism from the 1970s, first with Chögyam Trungpa, whom he met in 1974, and after Trungpa’s death with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He met the Dalai Lama the same year he met Trungpa.
What is neurophenomenology?
Varela’s name for a research programme that joins the phenomenology of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty with neuroscience. It asks observers to examine their own conscious experience using methods that can be checked scientifically.
Is Francisco Varela still alive?
No. He died in Paris on 28 May 2001, aged 54, after a long liver illness; he had received a liver transplant in 1998 and wrote about it.
Is Francisco Varela related to Leonor Varela?
Yes. The Chilean actress Leonor Varela is one of his four children.
Footnotes
- Francisco Varela — Wikipedia
- Francisco Varela, 1946–2001 — Tricycle
- The Embodied Mind, revised edition — MIT Press Bookstore
- Ethical Know-How — Blackwell’s
- Celebrating 35 Years: Weaving Origin Stories — Mind & Life Institute
- Humberto Maturana: obras destacadas — Emol
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“[He] saw Mind & Life as a dream-board, a place where radical ideas about the nature of mind and reality could be not only unfolded, but also challenged.”
— Roshi Joan Halifax on Francisco Varela, Mind & Life Institute (2022)
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