Role-property

For optimum combustion, the fuel should vaporize rapidly and mix intimately with the air. Even though the design of the injection system and combustion chamber play a very important role, properties such as volatility, surface tension, and fuel viscosity also affect the quality of atomization and penetration of the fuel. These considerations justify setting specifications for the density (between 0.775 and 0.840 kg/1), the distillation curve (greater than 10% distilled at 204°C, end point less than 288°C) and the kinematic viscosity (less than 8 mm /s at -20°C). 

The role, properties and applications of textile materials in sustainable buildings... 

A physical property P can fill a certain role R. If P fills R, then P has the property of being a property that fills of i - and thus has a second-order property. And if an individual has P, and P fills R, then the individual has the property of having a property that fills R — again, a second-order property. Further, if an event occupies R, then it has the second-order property of being an event that occupies R. I will assume, moreover, that an event can be typed by appeal to the fact that it has a second-order role property, hereafter a functional property. Thus, an event will count as an A-type event in virtue of having functional property A. 

Among philosophers of mind, it is common to assume that at least some mental properties are functional in nature (Putnam 1975 Jacob 1997 Kim 1992,1998 van Gulick 2001 Block 1997,2007, forthcoming). Basically, a functional property is a property that is to be characterized, or that is characterizable in functional terms. The idea that functional properties are functional in nature, or that they are role-properties raises subtle issues about the nature of dispositional properties, their connection to multiple realizability and to functionalism. Suffice it to say that on all these views, a functional characterization is, to some extent, transparent with respect to the so described property s nature (for a discussion, see van Riel 2012). Here are two ways to conceive of characterizations in functional terms. The first is obtained from Lewis (1972), the second can be found in Block (2007), building on Putnam (1975). To give an idea of how to conceive of functional properties, it will prove useful to talk freely about theoretical terms. Theoretical terms are conceived of as terms that can be defined by the Ramsey-sentence of the theory in which they occur. A functional characterization of a property is, then, a characterization of a property in terms of the relevant Ramsey-sentence, obtained from a psychological theory. 

For the role, properties, and interpretation of complex wavefunctions, see our Physical chemistry (2010). 

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