3/7 



THE ORGANISM AS MACHINE 



(y) angle between the right thigh and the right tibia 

 (z) „ „ „ left „ „ „ left 



In w and x the angle is counted positively when the knee comes 

 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. 



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

 considered to be state-determined. That it can be made state- 

 determined is assumed by every physiologist before the work 

 starts, for he assumes that it is subject to the fundamental assump- 

 tion 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 it to be state-determined (S. 2/15). So unless there 

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

 logical experiment can usually be assumed to be state-determined. 



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 intended 

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

 the contrary, the animal in an experiment with conditioned 

 reflexes can usually be assumed to be state-determined. 



35 



