Limitations of Analytical Mechanistic Approaches to Biological Neural Networks

Abstract

The primary theoretical principle—reflexion or reflex—that has determined the development of neurophysiology, and still continues to do so, is about three hundred and fifty years old. This classical point of view teaches us to understand the nervous system as a device that functions according to the formula “stimulus-reaction.” The theory goes back to the sixteenth century, when Rene Descartes developed the first scientific reflex theory, based on the knowledge of that time regarding the motion of liquid through a system of connected vessels that possesses a pump and valves. In fact, it was the first technogenic idea that was used to explain brain function.