PROPERTY and FUNCTION
Charles François (2004). PROPERTY and FUNCTION, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2680.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2680 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
F. BONSACK emphatizes the necessity to clearly distinguish “property” from “function”. He writes on the topic:
- “Some biochemist say: ”To fix oxygen is a property of hemoglobin. To say that it is its function does not add anything, if not a finalist connotation, that should be eliminated from modern science…
- “It is true that, when we isolate hemoglobin, it has only properties. A property characterizes an isolated substance, it is tied to this substance. To speak of ”function“ has no sense here. The function is no property of the chemical substance, it is a property of the functional organization of the whole. The property of hemoglobin to fix or to liberate oxygen is used by the function ”transport of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues“.
- “The function is not tied to the chemical substance (just as it is not tied to a person who occupies some post in an organization). The proof of this is that another substance (or another person) may act in the same function. Conversely, the same substance (or person) may perform different functions in the same organism (or organization) or in a different organism” (1989, p.23-4).