BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

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PSYCHON 3)5)

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"Any neural unit capable of discharging mental functions of some kind" (M. BUNGE, 1979, p.128).

BUNGE, who introduced this neologism, states that "there are three main views concerning the nature and size of psychons: neuronism (sic), holism and systemism. According to neuronism single neurons may possess certain mental abilities – e.g. that of issuing commands. There is no evidence for this view. Holists, on the other hand, assume that nothing short of the whole brain can mind: they speak of "mass action" and favor holographic theories of memory and other mental functions. Although there is plenty of evidence for the strong coupling among a number of neural systems, there is also evidence for localization of, e.g., pleasure and speech.

"So we are left with psychosystemism, or the hypothesis that the brain… is a system of specialized subsystems or organs, some of which are itinerant rather than fixed. There is multiple evidence for psychosystemism, so we shall adopt it" (p.128-9).

BUNGE's neologism has not spread much and the negative aspects of his views may still not be generally accepted.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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