Date of Award

1987

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Frame, Michael

Keywords

Chaos, Mind, Thermodynamics

Area of Concentration

General Studies

Abstract

This thesis is an interdisciplinary consideration of how Prigogine's theory of dissipative structures, self-organizing non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems, might be applied to the study of the mind. Prigogine's theory is applicable to any non-equilibrium information processing system which has elements of both order and chaos. These express themselves as two levels, confirmatory structure and novel information, or the context and content of any message which work in complement to make it meaningful. Human communication can be analyzed in terms of these two levels, as an information processing system. Both dissipative structures and the structures of human communication evolve through transcendence, where new order is formed spontaneously out of chaos. Any logical formal system, such as Typographical Number Theory, exists purely on the level of confirmation. It is thus ideally closed and devoid of meaning, but since we can interact with it, it must be open to evolution and transcendence. This is demonstrated through paradoxical statements such as Godel's theorem. Such self-referential statements become their own context for meaning, and open the system which contains them.

Jungian psychology deals with the evolution of the psyche and is also based on two levels, the conscious and unconscious, which are analogous to order and chaos respectively, and are joined in paradox. Koestler's model of creativity outlines three types of creation: insight, humor, and art. Paradox contains elements of all three. Spiritual traditions, such as Zen Buddhism and Christian mysticism, aim at balance between order and chaos through transcendence and union with the creative aspect of the mind, which is often found to be paradoxical.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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