I suggest that a generic term Capacity be introduced as a subclass of Quality and Payload Capacity be moved accordingly.
A function is the reason that something exists. I am not sure that capacity is the reason for a vehicle to exist. Payload capacity seems to be a 'by-product' of the function of storing or carrying something. The only time a payload capacity might become a function is if someone intentionally builds a vehicle to break some sort of storage record, but even then, the storage or carrying function is really what's being created in the manufacturing of the vehicle, and the capacity is a way of speaking about the physical limit of that function.
Furthermore, what process would capacity be realized in? The payload capacity for a vehicle is the same whether it's empty or full.
I think 'range' also fits this account of capacity (mentioned in Issue 210). I don't think 'range' is the reason for a vehicle or its parts to exist. Certainly, an extended or improved transportation function might inhere in a vehicle and/or its parts, but range is a quality of those artifacts.
There is more to think about with regard to capacities under ideal v. real conditions, like range--the range of an electric car in a cold climate is significantly reduced.
Here is my first attempt at a definition:
Capacity = def. A Quality that inheres in an Independent Continuant or Specifically Dependent Continuant in virtue of its ability to realize a Specifically Dependent Continuant.
The design pattern would be something like this: storage functions bear a storage capacity, payload functions would bear a payload capacity, distance functions would bear a range capacity, and so on. I do not think that this would unnecessarily duplicate the hierarchy, as the difference between the function and its limiting capacity would be used to model very different things. I also do not think we would have nearly as many capacities as we do functions; there seems to be a limited number of common canonical capacities. Storage would cover quite a lot, and be in the same ballpark as occupancy limits for rooms and facilities, a paradigmatic example I want to cover.
There are two objections that I have anticipated.
First, that what I'm modeling is really a disposition and not a quality. In some cases, this may certainly be true, but I'm still not sure what process would realize such a thing as 'payload capacity' since the capacity is the same whether a vehicle or facility is empty or full. While it is true that I'm talking about some material aspect of an entity, I think I'm capturing something distinct from dispositions and functions.
Second, that it's not a good idea to model a negative, which is what storage and payload limits are. I don't think I'm modeling a negative so much as I'm modeling the bound, the limit of a positive. I'm not modeling the 'ability to not carry 100 people in this vehicle' but rather the fact that 'the ability to carry people in this vehicle' has a kind of limit to its full realization. Though I do admit that there is something negative in what I'm doing, I'm trying to capture it in terms of the positive disposition and function.
I suggest that a generic term Capacity be introduced as a subclass of Quality and Payload Capacity be moved accordingly.
A function is the reason that something exists. I am not sure that capacity is the reason for a vehicle to exist. Payload capacity seems to be a 'by-product' of the function of storing or carrying something. The only time a payload capacity might become a function is if someone intentionally builds a vehicle to break some sort of storage record, but even then, the storage or carrying function is really what's being created in the manufacturing of the vehicle, and the capacity is a way of speaking about the physical limit of that function.
Furthermore, what process would capacity be realized in? The payload capacity for a vehicle is the same whether it's empty or full.
I think 'range' also fits this account of capacity (mentioned in Issue 210). I don't think 'range' is the reason for a vehicle or its parts to exist. Certainly, an extended or improved transportation function might inhere in a vehicle and/or its parts, but range is a quality of those artifacts.
There is more to think about with regard to capacities under ideal v. real conditions, like range--the range of an electric car in a cold climate is significantly reduced.
Here is my first attempt at a definition:
Capacity = def. A Quality that inheres in an Independent Continuant or Specifically Dependent Continuant in virtue of its ability to realize a Specifically Dependent Continuant.The design pattern would be something like this: storage functions bear a storage capacity, payload functions would bear a payload capacity, distance functions would bear a range capacity, and so on. I do not think that this would unnecessarily duplicate the hierarchy, as the difference between the function and its limiting capacity would be used to model very different things. I also do not think we would have nearly as many capacities as we do functions; there seems to be a limited number of common canonical capacities. Storage would cover quite a lot, and be in the same ballpark as occupancy limits for rooms and facilities, a paradigmatic example I want to cover.
There are two objections that I have anticipated.
First, that what I'm modeling is really a disposition and not a quality. In some cases, this may certainly be true, but I'm still not sure what process would realize such a thing as 'payload capacity' since the capacity is the same whether a vehicle or facility is empty or full. While it is true that I'm talking about some material aspect of an entity, I think I'm capturing something distinct from dispositions and functions.
Second, that it's not a good idea to model a negative, which is what storage and payload limits are. I don't think I'm modeling a negative so much as I'm modeling the bound, the limit of a positive. I'm not modeling the 'ability to not carry 100 people in this vehicle' but rather the fact that 'the ability to carry people in this vehicle' has a kind of limit to its full realization. Though I do admit that there is something negative in what I'm doing, I'm trying to capture it in terms of the positive disposition and function.