Arturo Rosenblueth Stearns (October 2, 1900 – September 20, 1970) was a Mexican researcher, physician and

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

, who is known as one of the pioneers of

cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...

Biography

Rosenblueth was born in 1900 in Ciudad Guerrero,

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

. He began his studies in Mexico City, then traveled to Berlin and Paris where he obtained his medical degree. Returning to Mexico City in 1927, he engaged in teaching and research in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

. In 1930 he obtained a Guggenheim Scholarship and moved to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, to the department of Physiology, then directed by

Walter Cannon Walter Bradford Cannon (October 19, 1871 – October 1, 1945) was an American physiologist, professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. He coined the term "fight or flight response", and developed the theory ...

. With Cannon he explored the chemical mediation of

homeostasis In biology, homeostasis (British English, British also homoeostasis) Help:IPA/English, (/hɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/) is the state of steady internal, physics, physical, and chemistry, chemical conditions maintained by organism, living systems. Thi ...

. Rosenblueth cowrote research papers with both Cannon and

Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American mathematician and philosopher. He was a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher i ...

, pioneer of

. Notably he was the lead author for the 1943 article 'Behavior, Purpose and Teleology' that was co-written by Wiener and

Julian Bigelow Julian Bigelow (March 19, 1913 – February 17, 2003) was a pioneering American computer engineer. Life Bigelow was born in 1913 in Nutley, New Jersey. He obtained a master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying electrical ...

and which was published in

Philosophy of Science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...

. Rosenblueth was an influential member of the core group at the Macy Conferences. In 1944, Rosenblueth became professor of physiology at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. Eventually he became head of the Physiology Laboratory of the National Institute of Cardiology, head of the Physiology Department and, in 1961, director of the Center for Scientific Research and Advanced Studies (

Cinvestav The Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (in Spanish: ''Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional'' or simply as ''CINVESTAV-IPN'') is a Mexican non-governmental ...

) at the

National Polytechnic Institute National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. Between 1947 and 1949, and again between 1951 and 1952, using grants from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

, he returned to Harvard to further collaborate with Wiener. Arturo Rosenblueth died on September 20, 1970, in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Work

Since the 1930s Rosenblueth worked with

Cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

on issues related with Chemical transmission among nervous elements. Between 1931 and 1945 he worked with several specialists, among them Cannon, del Pozo, H.G. Schwartz, and

. With Wiener and Julian Bigelow he wrote "Behavior, Purpose and Teleology", which, according to Wiener himself, set the bases for the new science of

Cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...

. In his 1943 cybernetic classification "Behavior, Purpose and Teleology", purpose is a

behavior Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...

subclass. Behavior is active or

passive Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of on ...

and active behavior is purposeful or

random In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no :wikt:order, order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Ind ...

. Active purposeful behavior is then either feedback

teleological Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

on non-teleological. Negative feedback is important to guide the positive goal route. Purposeful teleological feedback helps guide the predictive behavior orders. Teleology is feedback controlled purpose. Rosenblueth's classification system was criticized and the need for an external observability to the purposeful behavior was established to validate the behavior and goal-attainment. The purpose of observing and observed systems is respectively distinguished by the system's subjective

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

and objective control. He devoted himself to the fields of nervous impulse transmissions, neuromuscular transmission, synaptic transmission, the propagation of impulses in the heart, the control of blood circulation, and the physiology of brain cortex. However, he also taught several courses of mathematics and even musicology.

Quotes

* " e best material model for a cat is another at or preferably the same cat." - "The Role of Models in Science," with Norbert Wiener * "To Arturo Rosenblueth for many years my companion in science" -Norbert Wiener's dedication in Cybernetics:_Or_Control_and_Communication_in_the_Animal_and_the_Machine * "The price of metaphor is eternal vigilance." - with Norbert Wiener quoted by R. C. Leowontin Lewontin, R. C. 2001. “In the Beginning Was the Word.” Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1057124.

Publications

* 1937, Arturo Rosenblueth, ''Fisiología del sistema nervioso autónomo'' ("Physiology of the Autonomous Nervous System"), with

* 1943, ''Behavior, Purpose and Teleology'', with

* 1945, ''The Role of Models in Science,'' with

* 1970, ''Mind and Brain: A Philosophy of Science'', (

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

) * 1970, "Mente y Cerebro: una filosofía de la ciencia"

Biography

Work

Quotes

Publications

References

Further reading