The thoroughly modern Aristotle: Was he really a functionalist?

Green, Christopher D.

doi:10.1037/1093-4510.1.1.8

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The idea of 'function' has a durable history in medical science, going back to Aristotle's treatises on natural science. Aristotle called the creative force that transforms the human body into a living person the psuchê, a vitalizing form of life constituted by a specific set of functions (Green, 1998). Later Galen also celebrated the natural design of organic bodies in his De usu partium ('On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body') by arguing 'that every structure of the human and animal body was perfectly situated to perform its function' (Freemon, 1994: 265-6).…”

Section: A Genealogy Of Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the Functional ‘Normal’? Aging, Sexuality and the Bio-marking of Successful Living

Katz

Marshall

2004

History of the Human Sciences

119

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This article raises the question of 'normality' today and the fracturing of health ideals along new lines of enablement and function. In particular the study asks if 'functional' and 'dysfunctional' are displacing 'normal' and 'pathological' as master biopolitical binarisms, and if so, what distinctions can be drawn between them. The discourse of 'function' and 'dysfunction' is certainly ubiquitous in two areas of research and practice: gerontology and sexology. In the former case 'functional health' is linked to successful aging represented by technical tests around activities of daily living (ADLs) and risk-assessment profiles. In the latter case, sexual function and dysfunction have become all-encompassing markers of heterosexual competence, now largely detached from reproductive imperatives, but refashioned as integral to responsible and successful self-management. Presenting examples from both cases, the article concludes that functionality, circulating under the signs of 'normal', 'natural' and 'healthy', furnishes economic, technological, educational, professional, pharmacological and policy fields with a rich intellectual, practical and regulatory resource.

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Section: A Genealogy Of Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the Functional ‘Normal’? Aging, Sexuality and the Bio-marking of Successful Living

Katz

Marshall

2004

History of the Human Sciences

119

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“…Although functionalism is closely associated with the 20th century's so-called modern architecture, it is by no means an exclusively modern conception. To gain an idea of its history, many authors advocate that Aristotle (even if crucially concerned with the issue of "awareness" of sensations) might be considered to have been a functionalist [8]. However, the first known document referring to the idea of a certain understanding of "use" or "convenience" dates from the 1st century BCE, in the very well-known De architectura.…”

Section: The Rise and Fall Of Functionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Function Follows Form: Considerations on Hard Heritage Facing the Climate Emergency

Pais

2024

Architecture

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In the discipline of architecture, there is an established familiarity with the 19th century’s Louis Sullivan’s pithy dictum “form follows function”. The expression has indeed directly and indirectly inspired many authors and movements, especially during the beginning of the 20th century, when objectivity showed its value in improving the progress of the industrial society. Nonetheless, the reception effects of such architecture with the primacy of function were responsible for decisive transformations in architectural form, human behaviour, social transformations and material and technological manoeuvres and gave rise to very rich developments related to form, history and inhabitants’ psychological engagements, among many others. So, what about the reception effects framed in the natural and inhabited environment? Could we make space for a sense of greater need, facing a climate emergency? The present paper brings the example of a bunker’s super-resistant heritage, as a paradigmatic sample of material resistance, that supports the idea that “Function (can) Follow the Form” when re-signifying hard architecture, as is the case with Plan Barron of Defence of Lisbon and Setubal, a recently declassified military heritage set of buildings. The study conducts a critical literature review as a qualitative method of research that groups factors into clusters to give evidence to some conceptual theoretical frameworks: “hardness”; “inheritance”; “object trouvé”; “affordance”; and “empathy”. These concepts become then the basis to frame a new paradigm: function follows form can be a pertinent approach when dealing with super-resistant structures in the present climate crisis. This inverse paragon, well explained, could work as a motto to architects for a new era of global climate action.

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“…Significantly, can contemporary Functionalism really maintain an independent position between Physicalism and Dualism? Green denies the possibility that Functionalism can insist this independent status, believing that it is a transformation of Physicalism, only rising to dominance in the 1960s when Physicalism and Behaviorism lost support ( Green, 1998 ). We should be cautious about Green’s viewpoint.…”

Section: Connecting Aristotle’s Theory Of Vision With Later and Prese...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…How should we expound the contemporary significance of Aristotle's visual theory? Some contemporary scholars aim to connect Aristotle's visual theory with contemporary Functionalism, represented by scholars such as Nussbaum (1978), Nussbaum andPutnam (1995), andGreen (1998). According to the explanation of Functionalism, the visual ability in Aristotle's De Anima cannot be reduced to a purely physical activity that are no different from the coloration.…”

Section: Connecting Aristotle's Theory Of Vision With Later and Prese...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A new perspective of Aristotle’s theory of vision: analysis of the “psycho-physical” intertwined mechanism of vision

Zhao

2023

Front. Psychol.

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Aristotle’s visual theory plays a pivotal role in De Anima, he specifically analyzes three fundamental elements required for visual activities, namely, color, transparent substance, and light. Color moves and limits transparent substance, thereby transforming transparent substance from potentiality to actuality through light. However, there is a debate between Physicalism and Spiritualism as to the specific implementation of the visual activity. Through the intertwined mechanism, Aristotle’s theory of vision can be clarified. The visual activity is neither purely psychological nor purely physical, it is the “psycho-physical” intertwined mechanism. This is why Aristotle’s visual theory is closely related to contemporary visual psychology.

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The thoroughly modern Aristotle: Was he really a functionalist?

Cited by 5 publications

References 16 publications

Is the Functional ‘Normal’? Aging, Sexuality and the Bio-marking of Successful Living

Is the Functional ‘Normal’? Aging, Sexuality and the Bio-marking of Successful Living

Function Follows Form: Considerations on Hard Heritage Facing the Climate Emergency

A new perspective of Aristotle’s theory of vision: analysis of the “psycho-physical” intertwined mechanism of vision

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