Do you have a function

[Jeremiah Ames]

Functionality only applies within a specified context. A tree has no function to a washing machine. You are simply looking at a thing and deciding its function within a frame of reference. Functionality then is a subjective idea not objective idea.

I don’t see why you say this.

Hasn’t science told us, objectively, that a leaf has a function to the tree. The tree would not live and grow without the leaf.

Thousands of years ago, people may not have understood that concept, yet the science of botany has given us this knowledge, objectively.

And we can conclude that that leaf has no function to a washing machine.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

What is the function of a stone?

As for the electron, it behaves according to all our observations as if it has no constituent parts. Therefore, applying Ockham's Razor, as we implicitly do in science, our model of the electron does not invoke any.

It is important to keep in mind that science works all the time with models of reality that are in principle always provisional and subject to update in the light of new observations. There is never a last word on any subject.

There is in fact a suspicious lack of symmetry between the unit charge on the electron and the charges on the constituents of hadrons (quarks) which are multiples of 1/3. This seems aesthetically inelegant, at the very least. It may signify that there is more to learn.

It is a curious fact that scientists tend to believe that the universe is based on elegant symmetry and simplicity in its core processes and structures. Perhaps this aesthetic belief is the" God" of science. This belief has served science well, but why it should be so is not clear, or not to me at any rate.

Perhaps the function of a stone is, an important building block for life.

My reasoning:

Lava from a volcano is molton rock (or stone).
The Big Island of Hawaii was created rather recently. Around 300000 years ago. It was formed entirely of lava.

I lived there for many years, and when I wanted to plant a lawn I needed to order ‘soil’ to spread over the lava rock. Well, the ‘soil’ was not soil like you would imagine. It was called ‘cinder soil’, because it was just very fine pieces of lava. (sometimes not particularly fine either).

Yet the island is teeming with life, so somewhere along the line all of that stone supported an abundance of life.

 

[exchemist]

Perhaps the function of a stone is, an important building block for life.

My reasoning:

Lava from a volcano is molton rock (or stone).
The Big Island of Hawaii was created rather recently. Around 300000 years ago. It was formed entirely of lava.

I lived there for many years, and when I wanted to plant a lawn I needed to order ‘soil’ to spread over the lava rock. Well, the ‘soil’ was not soil like you would imagine. It was called ‘cinder soil’, because it was just very fine pieces of lava. (sometimes not particularly fine either).

Yet the island is teeming with life, so somewhere along the line all of that stone supported an abundance of life.

That is an unwarranted extension of the term "function". And I am not talking about your example. I am talking about a random stone you might find on a country walk. I contend it has no "function" whatsoever. If that is right then your proposition, that everything has a function, is false.

The way you talk seems to me to betray a teleological bias in the way you look at the world.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

That is an unwarranted extension of the term "function". And I am not talking about your example. I am talking about a random stone you might find on a country walk. I contend it has no "function" whatsoever. If that is right then your proposition, that everything has a function, is false.

The way you talk seems to me to betray a teleological bias in the way you look at the world.

I must agree. You are correct.

 

[exchemist]

I must agree. You are correct.

OK then what is the function of a (seemingly) random stone you encounter, on a country path?

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

OK then what is the function of a (seemingly) random stone you encounter, on a country path?

I never claimed that I could see the function of everything. I am 100% sure of one thing. What I know is nothing compared to what I don’t know.

 

[exchemist]

I never claimed that I could see the function of everything. I am 100% sure of one thing. What I know is nothing compared to what I don’t know.

Then how can you claim that everything has one?

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

Then how can you claim that everything has one?

I claim nothing.

I agree with anything and everything you post.

You are correct.

You win.

Can we be happy now?

I’m happy.

 

[Twilight Hue]

My second question which arises from the title, can you think of any thing that does not have a function?