?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=THE+THEORY+OF+THE+ORGANISM-ENVIRONMENT+SYSTEM%3A+I.+DESCRIPTION+OF+THE+THEORY&rft.creator=Jarvilehto%2C+Timo&rft.subject=Behavioral+Neuroscience&rft.subject=Behavioral+Biology&rft.subject=Theoretical+Biology&rft.subject=Cognitive+Psychology&rft.subject=Evolutionary+Psychology&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Science&rft.description=The+theory+of+the+organism-environment+system+starts+with+the+proposition+that+in+any+functional+sense+organism+and+environment+are+inseparable+and+form+only+one+unitary+system.+The+organism+cannot+exist+without+the+environment+and+the+environment+has+descriptive+properties+only+if+it+is+connected+to+the+organism.+Although+for+practical+purposes+we+do+separate+organism+and+environment%2C+this+common-sense+starting+point+leads+in+psychological+theory+to+problems+which+cannot+be+solved.+Therefore%2C+separation+of+organism+and+environment+cannot+be+the+basis+of+any+scientific+explanation+of+human+behavior.+The+theory+leads+to+a+reinterpretation+of+basic+problems+in+many+fields+of+inquiry+and+makes+possible+the+definition+of+mental+phenomena+without+their+reduction+either+to+neural+or+biological+activity+or+to+separate+mental+functions.+According+to+the+theory%2C+mental+activity+is+activity+of+the+whole+organism-environment+system%2C+and+the+traditional+psychological+concepts+describe+only+different+aspects+of+organisation+of+this+system.+Therefore%2C+mental+activity+cannot+be+separated+from+the+nervous+system%2C+but+the+nervous+system+is+only+one+part+of+the+organism%C2%ADenvironment+system.+This+problem+will+be+dealt+with+in+detail+in+the+second+part+of+the+article.&rft.date=1998-03&rft.type=Preprint&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F362%2F1%2Fchap1.htm&rft.identifier=++Jarvilehto%2C+Timo++(1998)+THE+THEORY+OF+THE+ORGANISM-ENVIRONMENT+SYSTEM%3A+I.+DESCRIPTION+OF+THE+THEORY.++%5BPreprint%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F362%2F