DETERMINISM (Internal) (or self-)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 894 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
All living systems are endowed with some degree of internal determinism, as shown by P. VENDRYES (1942), who refined the concept previously developed by Cl. BERNARD in the second half of the 19th century.
The living organism adapt itself to the variations imposed by its environment, thanks to internal cybernetic mechanisms of detection and regulation. These count with available stored reserves which allow them to compensate internal fluctuations which result from these variations. VENDRYES gave numerous examples: the regulation of the body's content of glucose, respiratorial rhythm, lipids metabolism, etc.
The global internal determinism guarantees dynamic stability of the system and assures it a degree of autonomy in relation to environmental determinisms. This is thus a kind of countervailing determinism.