Texts
- The Problem of Learning
- Problemistics Courseware
- Corso su Problemistica
- Resources Management
- Manuale/Intellettuale
- Campagna/Città
Problemistics - Problémistique - Problemistica
The Art & Craft of Problem Dealing
Functions
Definition (Reference Books)
Definition (Edward De Bono)
Definition (Ernest Nagel)
Definition (Robert K. Merton)Typology (Émile Durkheim)
Typology (Robert K. Merton)Function and structure (A. R. Radcliffe-Brown)
Function and structure (Jean Piaget)Function and use (Ralph Linton)
[1974] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
- “1. The natural or proper action for which a person, office, mechanism, or organ is fitted or employed.
- 2a. Assigned duty or activity. 2b. Specific occupation or role.
- Math. a. A variable so related to another that for each value assumed by one there is a value determined for the other. b. A rule of correspondence between two sets such that there is a unique element in one set assigned to each element in the other.”
[1977] Edward De Bono, Wordpower, 1983
"A function is a specific type of action." [e.g. the function of a screwdriver]
[1949] Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, Enlarged edition 1968
- “There is first, popular usage, according to which function refers to some public gathering or festive occasion, usually conducted with cerimonial overtones."
- "A second usage makes the term function virtually equivalent to the term occupation."
- "Third ... function is often used to refer to the activities assigned to the incumbent of a social status, and more particularly, to the occupant of an office or political position."
- "In mathematics ... it refers to a variable considered in relation to one or more variables in terms of which it may be expressed or on the value of which its own value depends."
- "[In] the biological sciences ... the term function is understood to refer to the ‘vital or organic processes considered in the respects in which they contribute to the maintenance of the organism’.”
(Chapter III, pp. 74-75)
[1961] Ernest Nagel, The Structure of Science, Second edition 1979
- “In the first place, the word is widely used to signify relations of dependence or interdependence between two or more variable factors (variables)."
- "In the second place, the word is sometimes employed to denote a more or less inclusive set of processes or operations within (or manifested by) a given entity, without indication of the various effects these activities produce either upon that entity or any other."
- "In the third place, the word is commonly used by biologists (as well as by others in an analogous sense) in the phrase ‘the vital functions’ to refer to certain inclusive types of organic processes occurring in living organisms, such as reproduction, assimilation, and respiration."
- "Fourth, the word is widely employed to signify some general recognized use or utility of a thing, or some normally expected effect of an action, as in the statement ‘The function of an axe is to cut wood’.”
(Chapter 14, pp. 522-524)
[1893, French edition] Émile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, The Free Press, New York, 1969
"The word function is used in two quite different senses. Sometimes it suggests a system of vital movements, without reference to their consequences; at others it expresses the relation existing between these movements and corresponding needs of the organism. Thus, we speak of the function of digestion, of respiration, etc.; but we also say that digestion has as its function the incorporation into the organism of liquid or solid substances designed to replenish its losses, that respiration has for its function the introduction of necessary gases into the tissue of an animal for the sustainment of life, etc." (Chapter 1, p. 49)
[1968] Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, Enlarged edition 1982
"Manifest functions are those objective consequences contributing to the adjustment or adaptation of the system which are intended and recognized by participants in the system."
"Latent functions, correlatively, being those which are neither intended nor recognized." (p. 105)
[1935] A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, On the Concept of Function in Social Science, American Anthropologist, n. 37
"The function of any recurrent activity, such as the punishment of a crime, or a funeral ceremony, is the part it plays in the social life as a whole and therefore the contribution it makes to the maintenance of the structural continuity. The concept of function as here defined thus involve the notion of a structure consisting of a set of relations amongst unit entities, the continuity of the structure being maintained by a life-process made up of the activities of the constituent units."
[1967] Jean Piaget, Biologie et Connaissance, Gallimard, Paris
"Quant au terme de ‘fonction’ on l’emploie souvent dans le sens d’un ensemble de structures y compris leur fonctionnement."
"La fonction est l’action exercée par le fonctionnement d’une sous-structure sur celui d’une structure totale, que celle-ci soit elle-même une sous-structure englobant la première ou soit la structure de l’organisme en son ensemble." (p. 200)
"Mais il faut ajouter trois compléments à cette définition. En premier lieu l’action de fonctionnement d’une sous-structure ne correspond à une fonction que si cette action est ‘normale’, c’est-à-dire utile en tant que conservant ou entretenant la structure dont cette sous-structure fait partie." "En second lieu, si le terme de fonction ne s’applique plus à une sous-structure spécifiée ... ce terme de fonction ne désigne plus un seul groupe d’actions particulières, mais toute une classe d’actions analogues ... toutes subordonnées également au critère du normal ou de l’utile relatif à la conservation de la structure totale." "En troisième lieu, si la condition du normal ou de l’utilité est ainsi attaché à l’idée de fonction, cela signifie que celle-ci ne peut avoir de sens que dans un contexte d’organisation." (pp. 200-201)
[1936] Ralph Linton, The Study of Man, D. Appleton-Century Company, New York
"The terms function and use have been employed interchangeably ... but the author feels there is a very real distinction and that there will be constant confusion unless this is made clear."
"The use of any cultural element is an expression of its relation to things external to the social-cultural configuration; its function is an expression of its relation to things within that configuration."
"The function of a trait complex is the sum total of its contribution towards the perpetuation of the social-cultural configuration. This function is normally a composite which can be analyzed into a number of functions each of which is related to the satisfaction of a particular need." (Chapter XXIII : Function, p. 404)