Abstract
This article proposes Topological Functional Systems (TFS) as a scientific research program that precedes and grounds the theses of 4E cognition, presupposing the unity of body, environment, and action as a constitutive condition of functional organization rather than as a correction of a prior model. This program draws upon the historical‑cultural tradition and the theory of Functional Systems, wherein psychological activity is conceived as a dynamic organization oriented toward adaptive outcomes, with body, environment, and action as constitutive conditions of the system. On this basis, the conceptual architecture of TFS is developed around two central philosophical problems: teleology and the status of representations, supported by a relational ontology formalized topologically and by emergence as a non‑aggregative explanatory principle. From this foundation, the article also examines clinical implications, showing how ecological approaches to rehabilitation, though valuable, lack a systematic theoretical grounding and find in TFS a framework capable of articulating functional reorganization in terms of body, environment, and action.
