Literary notes about Functional (AI summary)
The term "functional" emerges in literature with a remarkable versatility, serving both as a descriptor of practical, measurable attributes and as an abstract concept denoting purpose or relationship. In some contexts, it is applied in medical and analytical settings to characterize conditions that are operational rather than structurally anomalous—for instance, describing a case with no discernible functional cause or distinguishing between organic and non-organic nervous disorders ([1], [2]). In philosophical and sociological discourse, the word often conveys an essential yet non-material quality that underpins experiential and rational relations, as seen in discussions of mind and body or social devolution ([3], [4], [5]). Moreover, in literary portrayals of design and aesthetics, "functional" is employed to highlight simplicity and purpose, imbuing objects and structures with a purity of form that is both utilitarian and symbolic ([6], [7], [8]).
- He looked grave, but said: ‘I have made careful examination, but there is no functional cause.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - We were accustomed at one time to divide diseases into two great classes, organic and functional.
— from Preventable Diseases by Woods Hutchinson - This unity in truth, as in reason, is of course functional only, not physical or existential.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - CHAPTER IX—HOW THOUGHT IS PRACTICAL Functional relations of mind and body.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - The conviction thereby created is so strong and so dominant that it cannot be affected by any purely rational functional factors.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - It opened into a suite furnished with stark functional simplicity.
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - In overall appearance, its square shape, hipped roof and functional design were reminiscent of the eighteenth century buildings of James Wren.
— from The Fairfax County Courthouse by Ruby Waldeck - Designed for convenience, few tools illustrate better the aesthetic of the purely functional than this pair of 19th-century American calipers.
— from Woodworking Tools 1600-1900 by Peter C. Welsh
