An Example of Causal and Spatial Functions

Abstract

If we assume that functions express the links inherent in schemes of actions in their dual causal and operatory or preoperatory aspect, it is reasonable to study in this respect a causal situation in which the variables are relatively easy to distinguish and to analyze both separately and together. A transitive movement resulting from a single thrust linked to an action, whether direct or instrumental, is certainly the most primitive example from the genetic point of view, but it is not very suitable for a detailed analysis of the functions involved given the global nature of their causes and effects as well as the difficulty experienced by young subjects in quantifying them with any precision and in particular in quantifying them metrically. We have therefore devised an apparatus which appears to be very complicated but is actually fairly simple. It is composed of weights z which stretch a spring² of variable length x through a string of constant length whose two segments y and y′ are perpendicular and thus vary in an inverse relation (Figure 8). Additionally there are two arrows Fa and Fb, whose displacements, indicated on scales, correspond to the variations in the weights z and the length of the spring x.

With the collaboration of M. Meylan-Backs and A. Papert-Christophides.