3/6 



DESIGN FOR A BRAIN 



forward : in y and z the angles are measured behind the knee. 

 The line of behaviour is specified in Table 3/5/1. The reader can 

 easily identify this well-known activity. 



Table 3/5/1. 



The organism as system 



3/6. In a physiological experiment the nervous system is usually 

 considered to be absolute. That it can be made absolute is 

 assumed by every physiologist before the work starts, for he 

 assumes that it is subject to the fundamental assumption of 

 S. 2/15 : that if every detail within it could be determined, its 

 subsequent behaviour would also be determined. Many of the 

 specialised techniques such as anaesthesia, spinal transection, 

 root section, and the immobilisation of body and head in clamps 

 are used to ensure proper isolation of the system — a necessary 

 condition for its absoluteness (S. 2/15). So unless there are 

 special reasons to the contrary, the nervous system in a physio- 

 logical experiment has the properties of an absolute system. 



3/7. Similarly it is usually agreed that an animal undergoing 

 experiments on its conditioned reflexes is a physico-chemical 

 system such that if we knew every detail we could predict its 

 behaviour. Pavlov's insistence on complete isolation was in- 

 tended to ensure that this was so. So unless there are special 

 reasons to the contrary, the animal in an experiment with con- 

 ditioned reflexes has the properties of an absolute system. 



34 



