Aristotle and functions
Everything on Earth has a function. Through man’s ability to experience the five senses, one is able to recognize different substances. One can tell what an apple is by tasting, smelling and seeing it, and hence reasoning that he can eat it. This is the function of an apple. The same process of discovering what an object is can be applied to any substance, even human beings, according to Aristotle. The object in question tells the observer what it is and how it should be legitimately used.
Mankind’s ability to sense and reason make it a unique animal. Aristotle uses the five senses’s and reason to determine what a substance is and how it should be used. He uses this for examining humans as well. One must first look at the primary substance or physical entities (78). Humans have, along with reason, a flesh body. This primary substance is of great importance to the function of man. Without a body, there could be no mind. No body, no mind, no existence. The purpose of the body is to contain and protect vital organs, but it also used to carry out, physically, the instructions given by the brain. Man also has a secondary substance, which is his mind and ability to reason. Aristotle says this on page 68
For some things are produced out of others by combination, others by separation, and this makes the greatest difference to their priority and posteriority. For in a way the property of being most elementary of all would seem to belong to the first thing from which they are produced by combination, and this property would belong to the most fine-grained and subtle of bodies. Therefore, those who ...