Functionalism
Notes
Claim
People, social movements, and society in general, can all be seen as a collection of "machines" with a function or a goal to produce something, a certain type of result or effect A person is a community Systems thinking reveals mechanisms enabling effective change.
Explanation
The output of a complex machine, whether it is the individual or a social movement, is based on the interaction between those parts System properties arise from component interactions not individual parts. Similarly we can identify the contribution of each such machine within an organization, or a person, that together form the actions.
That inner desire for each machine to actualize itself is similar to the The will to power is the inner drive to transcend oneself and become something greater
Why it matters
Examples
For example a bike has a certain function, but its use is going to vary based on whether it is used by a worker on its way to work, a talented performer, or even as a tool to harm others.
Supporters
Opposers
Push this too far, though, and it slides into Objectivity is loss of agency to external control and instrumental treatment — reduce a person down to the function they serve and you lose everything about them that doesn't fit that role: their agency, their inner life, the parts of them that were never meant to be useful.