Menalas definition : "a meta_functional_object is a function ensured by a functional object defined by being a subsystem of another functional object. meta_functional_objects must be distinguished from the relation between the functional_objects insofar as the relations express symetric dependencies between the relata while the meta_functional objects express asymetric dependencies between the meta functional object and the functional object that contains it. For example, "time_before" is a relation between temporal intervals. However, "at_the_beginning" is a meta_functional_object, that is, the role played by the subinterval with respect to the interval that contains it. While the latter can defined solely, the former can't."