Functionalism

By Papineau, David

The term ‘functionalism’ means different things in many different disciplines from architectural theory to zoology. In contemporary philosophy of mind, however, it is uniformly understood to stand for ...

Function

Into function

Onto function

Explanation, functional

see Functional explanation.

Biological function

By Neander, Karen

Biologists ascribe functions to biological traits. For example, they tell us that it is the function of the heart to pump blood and that it is a function ...

Functional explanation

By Manning, Richard N.

Explanations appealing to the functions of items are common in everyday discourse and in science: we say that the heart pumps blood because that is its function, and ...

Algorithmic function

Computable function

Constant function

Identity function

Image (of a function)

Input (of a function)

Inverse (of a function)

Output (of a function)

Partial function

Projection function

Propositional function

Recursive function

Successor function

Total function

Turing computable function

Value (of a function)

Functionalism in social science

By Bigelow, John C.

In the social sciences, functionalists are theorists who give an especially prominent role to functional explanations. One of the most influential self-defined functionalists, Malinowski (1926), summed up this ...

Characteristic function