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“Proper Function” is a category for books that explore what it means for things to work as they are meant to—linking purpose, design, environment, and norms to the idea of functioning well. It spans philosophy (teleology, norms of function, and epistemic proper functionalism), engineering and design (standards, reliability, maintenance, and usability), biology (adaptation and dysfunction), and organizational or social systems (roles, institutions, and governance). These works ask by what criteria we judge proper operation, how intentions or evolved purposes set those criteria, and how context and environment shape success or failure. They also examine diagnosis and remedy of malfunction, feedback and error correction, and methods for aligning form, process, and goal. In short, the category brings together theory and practice on defining, evaluating, and achieving proper functioning across domains.

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