Plasticity spans closed form and open malleability, making brains self-sculpting historical structures.

Evidence

Individual experience opens up, in the program itself, a dimension usually taken to be the very antithesis of the notion of a program: the historical dimension. Plasticity, between determinism and freedom, designates all the types of transformation deployed between the closed meaning of plasticity (the definitive character of form) and its open meaning (the malleability of form). It does this to such a degree that cerebral systems today appear as selfsculpted structures that, without being elastic or polymorphic, still tolerate constant self-reworking, differences in destiny, and the fashioning of a singular identity. — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 110

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core delineation of plasticity as spanning definitive form and malleability — neither elastic nor polymorphic but tolerant of self-reworking.
• DEEPTHINKING: Malabou defines plasticity as the field between the closed ‘giving form’ (definitive character) and open ‘receiving form’ (malleability) senses — the basis for claiming brains are historical, self-sculpted structures — precisely the conceptual anchor for catching the plasticity/flexibility substitution.