id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
work_mravqipdwbbvxnxpql6kobvkle	Ruth Garrett Millikan	In Defense of Proper Functions	1989	16	.pdf	application/pdf	7647	422	59	I defend the historical definition of "function" originally given in my Language, Thought and Other Biological Categories (1984a). structure, hence are not always capable of performing their proper functions-a fact, I claim, that is of considerable importance. of "proper function" looks to history rather than merely to present properties or dispositions to determine function. theory of meaning that rests in turn on the notion "proper function", the function may also be read as a theoretical definition of "purpose". my definition, whether a thing has a proper function depends on whether of function that makes reference only to current properties, relations, dispositions or capacities of a thing. purposes or functions to things, which phenomenon normally accounts I have said that the definition of "proper function" is intended to explain what it is for an item to have a function or purpose, but not what 6According to my own definition of "proper function", borderline cases do exist.	./cache/work_mravqipdwbbvxnxpql6kobvkle.pdf	./txt/work_mravqipdwbbvxnxpql6kobvkle.txt