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3505 | The function of a heart depends on what we want it to do [Searle] |
Full Idea: If the only thing that interested us about the heart was that it made a thumping noise, we would have a completely different conception of its "functioning", and correspondingly of heart disease. | |
From: John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch.10.III) | |
A reaction: Ditto if we were only interested in ears as support for earrings, but that would seriously miss the point of ears. The intrinsic function is the reason for its existence. |