Just as natural scientists may be regarded as experts in the classifying of natural entities,
so engineers may be considered to be experts in the classifying of technical artifacts. In
the latter classifi cation the notion of function plays a crucial role. The fi nal contribution
to part IV therefore turns to the notion of function from an engineering point of view.
Kitamura and Mizoguchi start with the observation that in spite of the importance of the
notion of function for engineering practice there is no common interpretation of it. Apart
from a clear defi nition of the notion, engineers are very much interested in a formalization
of the notion of function that would allow them to represent functions of technical artifacts
in computer models. Kitamura and Mizoguchi propose a device-oriented defi nition of
function that is related to device behaviors. They defi ne “function” as a role played by a
behavior in its use context. The types of context of use are discussed and a comparison is
made with the defi nitions of biological functions. They also examine function defi nitions
other than the device-centered defi nition. It is interesting to note that the proposed device-
centered defi nition of function makes reference to goals in contexts of use and therefore
to perspectives or viewpoints of agents. This means that their defi nition of function does
not correspond to the narrow defi nition of function proposed by Soavi. Because of their
reference to human intentions, functional kinds individuated on the basis of Kitamura and
Mizoguchi’s notion of “function” cannot be real kinds.
References
Dennett, D. C. (1987). The Intentional Stance. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.
Thomasson, A. L. (2007). Artifacts and human concepts. In: Creations of the Mind: Theories of Artifacts and
Their Representation (Margolis, E., and Laurence, S., eds.), 52–73. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Functions and Classifi cation 165