Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Knowledge In Society And The Knowledge Society: Opening The Debate For A New Millennium, Ananya Vajpeyi

Ananya Vajpeyi

No abstract provided.

The Concept Of Resources In Triz, Umakant Mishra

Umakant Mishra

An ideal system should have all advantages and no harms. If the resources consumed are expensive than the output produced then the invented system becomes ridiculous. The objective should be to use least amount of resources, cheapest resources, easily available resources and resources available within the system.

Every system intends to achieve a main useful function. The use of resources should target to improve its main useful function. If certain parts of a system or certain resources lead to unwanted functions or harmful effects then that part of the system needs to be modified and those resources need to be …

Functional Explanation And Metaphysical Individualism, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A number of (present or former) analytical Marxists, such as Jon Elster, have argued that functional explanation has almost no place in the social sciences. (Although the discussion is framed in terms of a debate among analytical Marxists, the point is quite general, and Marxism is used for illustrative purposes.) Functional explanation accounts for what is to be explained by reference to its function; thus, sighted organism have eyes because eyes enable them to see. Elster and other critics of functional explanation argue that this pattern of explanation is inconsistent with "methodological individualism," the idea, as they understand it, that …