POSITIVISM (Neurological
Charles François (2004). POSITIVISM (Neurological, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2592.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2592 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
A theory about the ways world, brain and mind are homologously linked.
This interesting epistemological view has been introduced by L. R. VANDERVERT (1988, p.313-21)
- “Neurological positivism asserts that nervous systems project their order onto the environment to extract invariance. This neurological-level projective process is father (homologically speaking) to all knowing… and to all cognitive-level projection which is a part of the literature of personality psychology. Knowledge is a category of evolving invariance which arises as the result of the projection of the neurological order” (p.317).
VANDERVERT inspired himself from LASZLO's information flow loop “which include the following:
- “1. variant environment
- “2. perception input
- “3. control coding (or coupling) between input and output (in neurological positivism this is the neurological order)
- “4. output (behavior)
- “This loop accomplishes two things. First, it maintains invariant steady states in the nervous system (or in cognition) through negative feedback. Second, it self-organizes or adapts the system to the vagaries of the environment through projected or projective positive feedback processes” (Ibid).
VANDERVERT's views should be compared with J.J. GIBSON's ecological perception, BATESON's ecology of mind, von FOERSTER's cybernetics of “observing systems”, with MATURANA and VARELA's recursivity and organizational closure and with M. EIGEN's hypercycle.