Janus (46 page)

self-assertive
tendency is the dynamic manifestation of his unique
wholeness as an individual; his
integrative
tendency expresses his
dependence on the larger whole to which he belongs, his partness. Under
normal conditions, the two opposite tendencies are more or less
evenly balanced. Under conditions of stress, the equilibrium is upset,
as manifested in emotional behaviour. The emotions derived from the
self-assertive tendencies are of the well-known aggressive-defensive,
hunger, rage and fear type, including the possessive component of
sex. The emotions derived from the integrative tendency have been
largely neglected by contemporary psychology; one may call them the
self-transcending or participatory type of emotions. They arise out of
the human holon's need to be an integral part of some larger whole --
which may be a social group, a personal bond, a belief-system, Nature
or the
anima mundi
. The psychological processes through which this
category of emotions operates are variously referred to as projection,
identification, empathy, hypnotic rapport, devotion, love. It is one
of the ironies of the human condition that both its glory and its
predicament seem to derive not from the self-assertive but from the
integrative potentials of the species. The glories of art and science,
and the holocausts of history caused by misguided devotion, are both
nurtured by the self-transcending emotions.

 

 

To conclude, even this fragmentary outline ought to make it clear that
in the SOHO model there is no place for such a thing as an aggressive
or destructive instinct in organisms; nor does it admit the reification
of the sexual instinct as the only integrative force in human or animal
society. Freud's Eros and Thanatos are relative latecomers on the stage
of evolution: a host of creatures that multiply by fission or budding
are ignorant of both. In the present view, Eros is an offspring of the
integrative, destructive Thanatos of the self-assertive tendency, and
Janus the symbol of the polarity of these two irreducible properties of
living matter -- that
coincidentia oppositorum
which von Bertalanffy is
so fond of quoting, and which is inherent in the open-ended hierarchies
of life.

 

 

SUMMARY: SOME GENERAL PROPERTIES OF SELF-REGULATING OPEN HIERARCHIC ORDER
1.   The Holon
1.1  The organism in its structural aspect is not an aggregation of
elementary parts, and in its functional aspects not a chain of
elementary units of behaviour.
1.2  The organism is to be regarded as a multilevelled hierarchy of
semi-autonomous sub-wholes, branching into sub-wholes of a lower
order, and so on. Sub-wholes on any level of the hierarchy are
referred to as holons.
1.3  Parts and wholes in an absolute sense do not exist in the domains
of life. The concept of the holon is intended to reconcile the
atomistic and holistic approaches.
1.4  Biological holons are self-regulating open systems which display both
the autonomous properties of wholes and the dependent properties
of parts. This dichotomy is present on every level of every type of
hierarchic organization, and is referred to as the 'Janus phenomenon.
1.5  More generally, the term 'holon' may be applied to any stable biological
or social sub-whole which displays rule-governed behaviour and/or
structural Gestalt-constancy. Thus organelles and homologous organs
are evolutionary holons; morphogenetic fields are ontogenetic holons;
the ethologist's 'fixed action-patterns' and the sub-routines
of acquired skills are behavioural holons; phonemes, morphemes,
words, phrases are linguistic holons; individuals, families, tribes,
nations are social holons.
2.   Dissectibility
2.1  Hierarchies are 'dissectible' into their constituent branches,
on which the holons form the nodes; the branching lines represent
the channels of communication and control.
2.2  The number of levels which a hierarchy comprises is a measure of its
'depth', and the number of holons on any given level is called its 'span'
(Simon).
3.   Rules and Strategies
3.1  Functional holons are governed by fixed sets of rules and display
more or less flexible strategies.
3.2  The rules -- referred to as the system's 'canon' -- determine its
invariant properties, its structural configuration and/or functional
pattern.
3.3  While the canon defines the permissible steps in the holon's activity,
the strategic selection of the actual step among permissible choices
is guided by the contingencies of the environment.
3.4  The canon determines the rules of the game, strategy decides the
course of the game.
3.5  The evolutionary process plays variations on a limited number of
canonical themes. The constraints imposed by the evolutionary canon
are illustrated by the phenomena of homology, homeoplasy, parallelism,
convergence and the loi du balancement.
3.6  In ontogeny, the holons at successive levels represent successive
stages in the development of tissues. At each step in the process
of differentiation, the genetic canon imposes further constraints
on the holon's developmental potentials, but it retains sufficient
flexibility to follow one or another alternative developmental
pathway, within the range of its competence, guided by the
contingencies of the environment.
3.7  Structurally, the mature organism is a hierarchy of parts within parts.
3.8  Functionally, the behaviour of organisms is governed by 'rules of
the game' which account for its coherence, stability and specific
pattern.
3.9  Skills, whether inborn or acquired, are functional hierarchies,
with sub-skills as holons, governed by sub-rules.
4.   Integration and Self-Assertion
4.1  Every holon has the dual tendency to preserve and assert its
individuality as a quasi-autonomous whole; and to function as an
integrated part of an (existing or evolving) larger whole. This
polarity between the self-assertive and integrative tendencies
is inherent in the concept of hierarchic order; and a universal
characteristic of life.
The self-assertive tendencies are the dynamic expression of the holon's
wholeness, the integrative tendencies of its partness.
4.2  An analogous polarity is found in the interplay of cohesive and
separative forces in stable inorganic systems, from atoms to galaxies.
4.3  The most general manifestation of the integrative tendencies is the
reversal of the Second Law of Thermodynamics in open systems feeding
on negative entropy (Schrödinger), and the evolutionary trend towards
'spontaneously developing states of greater heterogeneity and complexity'
(Herrick).
4.4  Its specific manifestations on different levels range from the symbiosis
of organelles and colonial animals, through the cohesive forces in herds
and flocks, to the integrative bonds in insect states and primate
societies. The complementary manifestations of the self-assertive
tendencies are competition, individualism, and the separative forces
of tribalism, nationalism, etc.
4.5  In ontogeny, the polarity is reflected in the docility and
determination of growing tissues.
4.6  In adult behaviour, the self-assertive tendency of functional holons
is reflected in the stubbornness of instinct rituals (fixed
action-patterns), of acquired habits (handwriting, spoken accent),
and in the stereotyped routines of thought; the integrative tendency
is reflected in flexible adaptations, improvisations, and creative
acts which initiate new forms of behaviour.
4.7  Under conditions of stress, the self-assertive tendency is manifested
in the aggressive-defensive, adrenergic type of emotions, the
integrative tendency in the self-transcending (participatory,
identificatory) type of emotions.
4.8  In social behaviour, the canon of a social holon represents not only
constraints imposed on its actions, but also embodies maxims of
conduct, moral imperatives and systems of value.
5. Triggers and Scanners
5.1  Output hierarchies generally operate on the trigger-releaser principle,
where a relatively simple, implicit or coded signal releases complex,
preset mechanisms.
5.2  In phylogeny, a favourable gene-mutation may, through homeorhesis
(Waddington) affect the development of a whole organ in a harmonious
way.
5.3  In ontogeny, chemical triggers (enzymes, inducers, hormones) release
the genetic potentials of differentiating tissues.
5.4  In instinctive behaviour, sign-releasers of a simple kind trigger off
innate releasive mechanisms (Lorenz).
5.5  In the performance of learnt skills, including verbal skills,
a generalized implicit command is spelled out in explicit terms on successive
lower echelons which, once triggered into action, activate their
sub-units in the appropriate strategic order, guided by feedbacks.
5.6  A holon on the n level of an output-hierarchy is represented on the
(n+1) level as a unit, and triggered into action as a unit. A holon,
in other words, is a system of relata which is represented on the
next higher level as a relatum.
5.7  In social hierarchies (military, administrative), the same principles
apply.
5.8  Input hierarchies operate on the reverse principle; instead of triggers,
they are equipped with 'filter'-type devices (scanners, 'resonators',
classifiers) which strip the input of noise, abstract and digest its
relevant contents, according to that particular hierarchy's criteria
of relevance. 'Filters' operate on every echelon through which the
flow of information must pass on its ascent from periphery to centre,
in social hierarchies and in the nervous system.
5.9  Triggers convert coded signals into complex output patterns.
Filters convert complex input patterns into coded signals. The former
may be compared to digital-to-analogue converters, the latter to
analogue-to-digital converters. [22]
5.10 In perceptual hierarchies, filtering devices range from habituation
and the efferent control of receptors, through the constancy
phenomena, to pattern-recognition in space or time, and to the
decoding of linguistic and other forms of meaning.
5.11 Output hierarchies spell, concretize, particularize. Input hierarchies
digest, abstract, generalize.
6. Arborization and Reticulation
6.1  Hierarchies can be regarded as 'vertically' arborizing structures
whose branches interlock with those of other hierarchies at a
multiplicity of levels and form 'horizontal' networks: arborization
and reticulation are complementary principles in the architecture
of organisms and societies.
6.2  Conscious experience is enriched by the cooperation of several
perceptual hierarchies in different sense-modalities, and within
the same sense-modality.
6.3  Abstractive memories are stored in skeletonized form, stripped of
irrelevant detail, according to the criteria of relevance of each
perceptual hierarchy.
6.4  Vivid details of quasi-eidetic clarity are stored owing to their
emotive relevance.
6.5  The impoverishment of experience in memory is counteracted to some
extent by the cooperation in recall of different perceptual hierarchies
with different criteria of relevance.
6.6  In sensory-motor coordination, local reflexes are short-cuts on the
lowest level, like loops connecting traffic streams moving in opposite
directions on a highway.
6.7  Skilled sensory-motor routines operate on higher levels through networks
of proprioceptive and exteroceptive feedback loops within loops,
which function as servo-mechanisms and keep the rider on his bicycle
in a state of self-regulating, kinetic homeostasis.
6.8  While in S-R theory the contingencies of environment determine
behaviour, in the present theory they merely guide, correct and
stabilize pre-existing patterns of behaviour (Weiss).
6.9  While sensory feedbacks guide motor activities, perception in its turn
is dependent on these activities, such as the various scanning
motions of the eye, or the humming of a tune in aid of its auditory
recall. The perceptual and motor hierarchies are so intimately
cooperating on every level that to draw a categorical distinction
between 'stimuli' and 'responses' becomes meaningless; they have
become 'aspects of feed-back loops' (Miller et at).
6.10 Organisms and societies operate in a hierarchy of environments,
from the local environment of each holon to the 'total field',
which may include imaginary environments derived from extrapolation
in space and tune.
7. Regulation Channels
7.1  The higher echelons in a hierarchy are not normally in direct
communication with lowly ones, and vice versa; signals are
transmitted though 'regulation channels', one step at a time.
7.2  The pseudo-explanations of verbal behaviour and other human skills
as the manipulation of words, or the chaining of operants, leaves
a void between the apex of the hierarchy and its terminal branches,
between thinking and spelling.
7.3  The short-circuiting of intermediary levels by directing conscious
attention at processes which otherwise function automatically, tends
to cause disturbances ranging from awkwardness to psychosomatic
disorders.
8. Mechanization and Freedom
8.1  Holons on successively higher levels of the hierarchy show increasingly
complex, more flexible and less predictable patterns of activity,
while on successive lower levels we find increasingly mechanized,
stereotyped and predictable patterns.
8.2  All skills, whether innate or acquired, tend with increasing practice
to become automatized routines. This process can be described as the
continual transformation of 'mental' into 'mechanical' activities.
8.3  Other things being equal, a monotonous environment facilitates
mechanization.
8.4  Conversely, new or unexpected contingencies require decisions to be
referred to higher levels of the hierarchy, an upward shift of
controls from 'mechanical' to 'mindful' activities.
8.5  Each upward shift is reflected by a more vivid and precise
consciousness of the ongoing activity; and, since the variety of
alternative choices increases with the increasing complexity on
higher levels, each upward shift is accompanied by the subjective
experience of freedom of decision.
8.6  The hierarchic approach replaces dualistic theories by a serialistic
hypothesis in which 'mental' and 'mechanical' appear as complementary
attributes of a unitary process, the dominance of one or the other
depending on changes in the level of control.
8.7  Consciousness appears as an emergent quality in phylogeny and
ontogeny, which, from primitive beginnings, evolves towards more complex
and precise states. It is the highest manifestation of the
integrative tendency to extract order out of disorder, and
information out of noise.
8.8  The self can never be completely represented in its own awareness,
nor can its actions be completely predicted by any conceivable
information -- processing device. Both attempts lead to infinite
regress.
9. Equilibrium and Disorder
9.1  An organism or society is said to be in dynamic equilibrium if the
self-assertive and integrative tendencies of its holons counter-balance
each other.
9.2  The term 'equilibrium' in a hierarchic system does not refer to
relations between parts on the same level, but to the relation
between part and whole (the whole being represented by the agency
which controls the part from the next higher level).
9.3  Organisms live by transactions with their environment. Under normal
conditions, the stresses set up in the holons involved in the
transaction are of a transitory nature, and equilibrium will be
restored on its completion.
9.4  If the challenge to the organism exceeds a critical limit, the balance
may be upset, the over-excited holon may tend to get out of control,
and to assert itself to the detriment of the whole, or monopolize its
functions -- whether the holon be an organ, a cognitive structure
(idée fixe), an individual, or a social group. The same may happen
if the coordinating powers of the whole are so weakened that it is
no longer able to control its parts (Child).
9.5  The opposite type of disorder occurs when the power of the whole over
its parts erodes their autonomy and individuality. This may lead
to a regression of the integrative tendencies from mature forms of
social integration to primitive forms of identification and to the
quasi-hypnotic phenomena of group psychology.

9.6  The process of identification may arouse vicarious emotions of the
aggressive type.
9.7  The rules of conduct of a social holon are not reducible to the rules
of conduct of its members.
9.8  The egotism of the social holon feeds on the altruism of its members.
10. Regeneration
10.1 Critical challenges to an organism or society can produce degenerative
or regenerative effects.
10.2 The regenerative potential of organisms and societies manifests itself
in fluctuations from the highest level of integration down to
earlier, more primitive levels, and up again to a new, modified
pattern. Processes of this type seem to play a major part in
biological and mental evolution, and are symbolized in the universal
death-and-rebirth motif in mythology.