Upward effect

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Fig. 1. Aristotle's theory of layers - for a better understanding of the term “ hyle ” (= unformed matter, fabric, wood, wild roots) see also the Aristotelian theory of hylemorphism .

In philosophy , sociology and psychosomatics , one speaks of an upward effect when effects in a complex, organized biological or social system are described that emanate from a specific lower layer (see scheme in Fig. 1) and effects in a higher layer have as a consequence. These are models based on layer theory . The term somatogenic or somatopsychic is used for the effects of the biological upward effects . It corresponds to the term " psychogenic " or psychogenic for the opposite effect of the downward effects . (a), (a)

Systems theory

According to systems theory , the class-theoretical conceptions are also to be understood as a bio-psycho-social model. The meaning of the simplest elements from the lower layers is not only derived reductionistically from the physical properties of these elements in the individual being , rather it is about overarching biochemical , physiological and somatopsychic correlates on a higher level of interaction, see Chap. Integration level . (b) Social apologetics emphasizes the balance and functioning of the elements in the social context and does not emphasize the conflicts resulting from social differences . Simple, automatically running biological processes are integrated into complex social activities if necessary. (b) For example, the task of individual cells from different organs is understood as an integrative component on the higher organic level, as is e.g. B. the function of the vital metabolism of the entire organism as a prerequisite for higher psychological performance. The same applies to the task of individual organs in an entire organism . A hierarchical structure results from the phenomenon of emergence and the determination by Laotse (around 604–520 BC), Plato (around 427–347 BC), Aristotle (around 384–322 BC) and Ch. V. Ehrenfels (1859–1932) that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. (c), (a) If one applies systems theory to social systems, such as representatives of lower social strata, its task also appears indispensable in a non-violent, integrative and solidary context with society as a whole. (a)

In the event of disruptions in this connection or in the event of conflicts with an individual, U. to start from illness as " unsolved problem situation or its consequences on one, several or all levels of the hierarchical system ". (d) With regard to society, however , one would speak of civil war , violent revolution or war . The philosophically founded natural law , which proceeds from a natural state in contrast to the assumption that every culture differs clearly from this natural state, namely through the alleged primary use of force , is based on these considerations , cf. the myths of Cain and Abel or Romulus and Remus , see also the thesis of Karl Marx (1818–1883), according to which violence acts as a “powerful midwife of history”, see also → historicism and historicism . (b), The analogous relationship between the individual and society according to systems theory is also concretized, for example, in the general, individual-social application of functionalism .

It is about overarching relationships, which, depending on the particular case, are called biochemical , physiological and somatopsychic correlates , social or political relationships. According to the doctrine of signs , they are also regarded as "translations". This is intended to underline the connection to other system levels. (e) All layers, including the 5th layer (according to Fig. 1) of the “spirit” can also be applied to collective relationships. Spirit is to be understood not only as the personal spirit of the individual beings, but also as the objective spirit of the social community (cf. humanities ). (a)

Each layer or system level is therefore also characterized by its own specific language for the given layer (possibly also determined by scientific content-related terms and specific terminology such as that of physics, chemistry, biology, psychology and sociology) including those to be produced in each individual case Coupled meanings. They indicate connections between the system levels. (f) Nicolai Hartmann (1882–1950) introduced the terms of the category complex and associated types of determination; see also → Layer theory (philosophy) . (b)

Examples

The following examples in Sect. To evaluate Pavlov and Lysenko , as they appear to be influenced by the zeitgeist of the 19th and 20th centuries, from which many “ materialistic ” theories and ideologies originated.

Pavlov

In such a direction z. B. the discovery of conditioned reflexes by the Russian physician, physiologist and behavioral scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936), who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904. A little later he described the conditioned reflexes. His work originally related to the physiology of the digestive system . The physiological processes he last described as conditioned or conditioned reflexes were already mentioned in somewhat different words in a lecture he gave in St. Petersburg in 1899 , in which he also reported on his experiments on the salivary glands of dogs. These conditioned reflexes were acquired through the specific experimental arrangement, through the sight of the food, hearing the activities of the guard while preparing the food, etc. Pavlov then rated the physiological observations obtained as "elements of what we call mental activity". Pavlov was somewhat hesitant to use psychological language. In this context, it can also be understood as a coupling of meanings that creates a connection between a more materialistic layer (“1st hyle”) shown in Fig. 1 and a higher biological and psychological layer (“3rd living being” and “4th soul "). (G)

The signals emanating from the vegetative organs (including the pancreas ) can very well have coenesthetic effects on the brain or on higher centers of the nervous system (upward effect).

Pavlov's contribution to psychology , psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine is expressed in the systematic that has been obtained, namely that the unconditional and therefore innate reflexes correspond to the nervous activities controlled by the autonomic nervous system. The nervous reactions running through the animal nervous system can be assigned to the conditioned and therefore acquired reflexes , cf. Fig. 3. The latter have a certain psychological quality of awareness. (h) Disturbed functions of these various systems of the nervous system were once referred to as organ neuroses (autonomous or vegetatively caused) according to Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and Otto Fenichel (1897–1946) - see also disposition disease - or as conversion disorder . The latter were ultimately regarded as an expression disease and thus assigned to the animal nervous system.

However, Pavlov did not consistently pursue his psychological interest. (c) The general materialistic attitude of many scholars at the time may have played a role here, who were pursuing similar concepts even before Pavlov. They can be seen as the precursors of behaviorism . One such concept is the James-Lange theory , developed in 1884 and 1885 . (b)

Political factors are unlikely to have played a role in Pavlov's early activities before the 1917 revolution . (d) Nevertheless, Pavlov was already active at the Russian Military Academy in Petersburg from 1895 before 1917. He was dependent on state approval of his activities, even after 1917. Since the appraisal of psychological activities in behaviorism is known to be problematic, Pavlov in the lecture mentioned above only spoke of “little conscious” wishes, feelings and thoughts that require only “minimal” attention . Freud, who was living at the same time, paid special attention to these "little conscious" wishes. (e) For Soviet Russian philosophy and psychology, however, Pavlov's discoveries were evidence of the 'material nature of psychic activity'. Insofar as Pavlov's teaching appears too one-sidedly related to his reflex theory, he is therefore critically assumed to be a "Pavlovianism" or a "reflexology" (c) or even a "reflex mythology" (f) . For the conceptual history of the kind of analogy between “higher” (conditioned) and “lower” (unconditional) reflexes cf. a. the term "psychic reflex arc" .

As a result, the importance of Pavlov's theory of reflexes appears to be difficult to incorporate into the theory of upward effects. If one disregards “minimal” coenesthetic effects of the central feedback through internal organs under normal conditions, it remains to refer to differences in developmental history, as Jakob Johann von Uexküll (1864–1944) already did. When clarifying the question of whether the body sometimes acts as an acting authority, he emphasized that when the sea ​​urchin walks, even if it does not have a central nervous system (CNS), the legs move the sea urchin. However, when the dog is running, the dog is moving its legs. By "dog" is meant the involvement of its CNS. Üexküll called the sea urchin a "reflex republic" because the direction in which the sea urchin moves has to be coordinated between the individual, fairly autonomously organized body sections, cf. the deliberately chosen political analogy of the name. The task of the autonomous nervous system in humans is, however, in normal cases precisely to let the control of the organs not take place centrally, but without the involvement of consciousness-forming centers - i.e. below the psychophysical level and without involvement of the highest centers - in the sense of an automatism. (g) The nervous system, too, in the figurative sense of Fig. 1, can be divided into “higher” and “lower” anatomically concretizable layers. This division of the nervous system into an anatomically structured structure of functions that not only serve the mostly uniform, basic and vital needs ( stimulus-reaction model ), but also take into account the increasing complexity of decisions in the developmental series ( information theory ) referred to as the level scheme of the stimulus response . (c) Pavlov found that there is a connection between the autonomic and animal nervous systems. This is the bridge to the central nervous or psychological processes, which are also dealt with by the neurosciences as a whole and which appears remarkable in the context of the upward effects.

Lyssenko

In a completely different way than with Pavlov, reference should be made in this context of materialistic theories to the sociologically and politically significant role of the work of the Soviet agricultural researcher and biologist Trofim Denisovich Lyssenko (1898–1976). The leading biologist of the USSR under Josef Stalin represented the view of Neolamarckism , which was abandoned according to Western views , according to which hereditary factors can be changed by environmental influences. That would mean that acquired traits can also be inherited. The thesis conformed to dialectical materialism . People are seen as a product of politically changeable social conditions. This should create a new and stable basis for the social order. Paradoxically, however, due to Lyssenko's theses, agricultural yields and a. also worsened by the forced collectivization that ensued. (H)

Consequences and alternatives

On the basis of the examples above, some theoretical and practical consequences and alternatives should be discussed. The examples should explain the problem of social applications of the principle of upward effects. However, according to Kant, examples are the gauntlet of understanding and judgment (KrV B 174), since they rarely fully meet the requirements of the rule.

Philosophy of science

Even if Pavlov's immense merits, not only for physiology, but even for the psychological and psychiatric sciences, cannot be doubted, the question arises whether they are not, as a representative of all scientific research results, curtailed by methodological and ideological requirements. In the case of dialectical materialism, the question of a historical regularity of economic development also arises. (d) If one assumes the determination types causality and finality according to Nicolai Hartmann in connection with the topic “upward effect” , then the question arises whether there is a transition between both principles and how the transitions are to be taken into account in individual cases. (e), (i) Since downward and upward effects often exist at the same time, the question arises as to how these can be distinguished from one another with regard to the complex effects they emanate from each other. (i) In terms of philosophy of science, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) has set himself the task of removing the “ epistemological and methodological concept of philosophical epistemology from the one-sided overvaluation of the basic concepts of modern empirical sciences and also asserting the experience of understanding do ". Pavlov continued the considerations of automatic mental functions ( machine paradigm) that had begun since the Enlightenment with René Descartes (1596–1650) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), thereby making use of a kind of experimental psychology , but also got one Limit of conceptual complexity in the interpretation of his reflex model. (j)

Practical medicine

Upward effects are known in most somatic diseases. General symptoms such as B. Fatigue can result from a demonstrable physical condition, such as anemia . The well-being , therefore, a man appears reversed as the sum of well-functioning physical processes (such as the formation of blood ), which are usually not aware of a particular people. On the other hand, the patient's condition must be taken into account during the medical examination. Well-being as an upward effect, which is ultimately gained as a state of emergence, contrasts with the restrictions that are maintained by the downward effects. In the case of a leukemic blood disease with anemia, these restrictions are no longer applicable . Blood cells proliferate freely and indiscriminately. By cytostatics is trying to establish new restrictions. In many cases, however, unsolvable psychosocial problems and the associated emotional gloom lead to physical illnesses of various kinds. It can be assumed that the lack of restrictions (in the sense of the dissolution of the previously acquired coupling of meaning) are responsible for this as downward effects. Such inhibitory mechanisms are likely for the immune system , the hormonal system and for a number of nervous processes. However, it is also argued that well-being is the guarantor of this necessary combination of downward and upward effects as a prerequisite for health. (j)

Fig. 2. Continuum of diagnostic categories or the question of the transitions between physical and mental illnesses. At the bottom right of the red curve it should actually read “somatopsychic diseases” instead of “psychosomatics”. However, this designation is less common, see text.

The combination of upward and downward effects was also discussed in the case of anorexia nervosa , since one-sided assumptions about the cause, for example through hormonal factors or insufficient food intake, could not accurately explain the clinical picture. (k)

Stavros Mentzos (1930–2015) also points to such combinations . He is still purely theoretically concerned with a “constitutionally prescribed hypersecretion of the gastric mucosa” in an infant. This leads to above-average hunger. Mentzos uses this to construct the most varied of counter-reactions in his milieu, i. H. Reactions in the behavior of the caregivers or the mother. From this, in turn, he derives a generalization of the resulting interaction pattern in the child. In this way a certain psychological structure develops and a personality unfolds (upward effect), which in turn can inevitably lead to the development of new and additional somatic changes, disorders and damage (downward effects). It may be an affect correlate . An affect equivalent is also to be considered. The latter processes could be viewed as secondary somatization and lead to a lifelong cycle of progressive diseases. Such combinations are so common that they can be imagined as a universal model for the development of mental illness. This is also suggested by Fig. 2, in that in each mental illness differently weighted factors of a somatogenic and psychogenic nature must be observed. This is the practical significance of these assumptions.

The somatopsychic relationship, as it is the subject of the upward effect, has considerable legal significance insofar as the failure to consider physical causes is elementary for the diagnosis of mental illness and can possibly be viewed as a medical malpractice . The term “treatment error” for the incorrect medical procedure is not sufficient in terms of language usage, as medical action can already be incorrect during the examination and not only during the treatment ( therapy ). However, a diagnosis error or an inadequate assessment is present if the attending physician fails to recognize a clear clinical picture, for example by failing to give the patient a sufficient physical examination when diagnosing a mental illness and thus not considering possible physical causes. The patient's social situation can also be decisive here. Nevertheless, the term " psychosomatic medicine " , rather than "somatopsychic medicine", has established itself as the name for the branch of medicine that expressly deals with the neighboring disciplines . Upward effects are apparently not taken into account.

The medical history of a patient suffering from diphtheria is known who, because of diphtheric swallowing disorders, was no longer able to take part in meals together with his family. He therefore developed social abnormalities. (k)

In the case of the relatively well-researched psychosomatic diseases ( Holy Seven ) such as duodenal ulcer , it is important to know that early experiences in eating led to the facilitation of social behavior (upward effect). The infant's gastric mucosa sensations during breastfeeding are coupled with the experience of social unity with the mother ( anaclise ). Conversely, in the case of disorders of social behavior, corresponding downward effects are to be assumed, in that the learned (acquired) pathways are disrupted. (l)

Psychophysical Correlation

Fig. 3 Psychophysical correlation or control loop between the higher animal level and the lower vegetative level

If one reduces the idea of ​​different layers to only two levels, namely a psychological and a physical one, one can also speak of a psychophysical correlation , as shown in Fig. 3. This limitation to two layers or levels has been common since Descartes differentiated into a "res extensa" (= extended substance, body) and a "res cogitans" (= thinking substance, soul). (d)

Integration level

According to Thure von Uexküll (1908-2004), upward effects can be described as effects that are exerted from the less complex (lower) level of integration to a more complex (higher) level. These are levels of a hierarchical system. (m)

literature

Systems theory:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thure von Uexküll (Ed. And others): Psychosomatic Medicine . 3rd edition, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-541-08843-5 : (a) p. 26 for the definition of "upward effect as somatopsychic effect"; (b) p. 26 on tax “reductionism”; (c) pp. 9, 26 on head. “System theory”; (d) p. 26 on head. “Illness”; (e) pp. 17, 26 on tax “translation”; (f) pp. 9, 17, 43, 52, 88 f., 98, 272 on stw. "Language"; (g) pp. 17, 18, 26, 28, 85, 104, 554, 731, 754, 755, 771–773, 776 on “Meaning coupling”; (h) pp. 17, 26 on the district “Pavlov”; (i) p. 613 on “Anorexia nervosa”; (j) pp. 9, 1288, 1299 (note 7) on stw. “Restriction”; (k) SS 613 on “Anorexia nervosa”; (l) p. 773 on Stw. “Experiencing social unity”; (m) p. 732 to district “integration levels”.












  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Thure von Uexküll : Basic questions of psychosomatic medicine. Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1963: (a) p. 225 to the head. “Layer model”; (b) p. 125 on head. “Integration of automatic processes”; (c) p. 84 (footnote 4), 165 on stw. “Zeitgeist and Pavlov's psychological interest”; (d) p. 166 on Stw. “political factors in the case of Pavlov”; (e) p. 165 on tax authority “Pavlov and Freud”; (f) p. 165 f. on “Reflexmythologie”, see also (j); (g) p. 125 as (b); (h) p. 37 to Stw. “Lyssenko - wissensch. Dependence on the compulsion to think of an era ”; (i) p. 247 on res. “Nicolai Hartmann”; (j) p. 165 f. on “Limits of the reflex model”, see also (f); (k) p. 125 on head. “Diphtheric swallowing disorder”.










  3. ^ Karl-Heinz Hillmann : Dictionary of Sociology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 410). 4th, revised and expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-41004-4 , p. 34 f. to Lemma: "Apologie, Apologetik"; P. 760 on the Lemma “Stratification”.
  4. ↑ a b c d Peter R. Hofstätter (Ed.): Psychology . The Fischer Lexicon, Fischer-Taschenbuch, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-436-01159-2 : (a) p. 155 on tax “Lao-tse, Platon, Aristoteles”; (b) pp. 72 f., 127 on the “James-Lange theory”; (c) p. 284 f. to Stw. “Level scheme of the stimulus response”; (d) p. 206 to district “Descartes”.



  5. ↑ a b Hannah Arendt : About the revolution . 3rd edition, Piper, Munich 4/1986, ISBN 3-492-10076-7 : (a) p. 11 on stw. “Non-violence”, p. 112 f. to district “Solidarity”; (b) pp. 166, 240, 243 f., 245, 391 on stw. “Natural Law”; Pp. 20 f., 105, 240, 243 f. to Stw. "Natural State"; Pp. 13, 19, 20, 21, 27, 34, 41, 44, 46, 77 f., 80, 106, 116 ff., 144, 146 f., 174, 198, 200, 203, 232 ff. 345 , 381 f., 385 on district “violence”.

  6. ^ Jürgen Habermas : Natural law and revolution . In: Theory and Practice. Social Philosophical Studies . [1963] 5th edition, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1978, stw 243, ISBN 978-3518-27843-7 ; P. 89 ff.
  7. ↑ a b c d e Heinrich Schmidt : Philosophical dictionary (= Kröner's pocket edition. 13). 21st edition, revised by Georgi Schischkoff : Alfred Kröner, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-520-01321-5 : (a) p. 218 f. to Lemma “Geist”; (b) p. 609 f. on the Lemma “Layer theory”, see there in particular Stw. “Nicolai Hartmann”, cf. also (e); (c) p. 117 f. on Lemma "Pawlow, IP" and p. 577 on Lemma "Reflexologie"; (d) p. 127 on Lemma “Dialectic”; (e) p. 259 on Lemma “Nicolai Hartmann”, see also (b).




  8. ^ Ivan Petrovich Pavlov : Complete Works . ed. by L. Pickenhain, Berlin 1954, Vol. II / 2, p. 427.
  9. ↑ a b c The Great Brockhaus. Compact edition in 26 volumes . 18th edition, Brockhaus, FA, Wiesbaden 1983, ISBN 3-7653-0353-4 ; Vol. 16, p. 301 on Lemma "Pawlow, IP".
  10. ^ Gustav A. Wetter: Philosophy and natural science in the Soviet Union . rde vol. 67, p. 80 ff.
  11. ^ Iver Hand: Pavlov's contribution to psychiatry . Development and structural analysis of a research direction. Thieme, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-13-158701-6 .
  12. ↑ Hans-Georg Gadamer : Foreword . Collected works UTB and Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1999, Vol. 8, Aesthetics and Poetics I, ISBN 3-8252-2115-6 (UTB order no.); S. III on taxation “modern empirical sciences”.
  13. ↑ Stavros Mentzos : Psychodynamic Models in Psychiatry . 2nd edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1992, ISBN 3-525-45727-8 ; P. 15 f., 101 f. to Stw. "somatopsychic-psychosomatic diseases".
  14. ↑ Legal Lexicon . to Lemma “Medical Malpractice” online
  15. ↑ Rolf Bischoff : The doctor's liability for diagnostic errors or failed examinations . In. Festschrift for Karlmann Geiß . P. 345 ff.
  16. ↑ Uwe Henrik Peters : Dictionary of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology . 3rd edition, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich 1984; P. 449 to the district "Psychophysical correlation" s. Wb.-Lemma "Psychopathology".