Switch to: Citations

Add references

You must login to add references.
  1. Philosophical Naturalism. Philosophical Naturalism.David Papineau - 1993 - Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   309 citations  
  • In defense of proper functions.Ruth Millikan - 1989 - Philosophy of Science 56 (June):288-302.
    I defend the historical definition of "function" originally given in my Language, Thought and Other Biological Categories (1984a). The definition was not offered in the spirit of conceptual analysis but is more akin to a theoretical definition of "function". A major theme is that nonhistorical analyses of "function" fail to deal adequately with items that are not capable of performing their functions.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   521 citations  
  • Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories: New Foundations for Realism.Ruth Garrett Millikan - 1984 - MIT Press.
    Preface by Daniel C. Dennett Beginning with a general theory of function applied to body organs, behaviors, customs, and both inner and outer representations, ...
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1308 citations  
  • (1 other version)The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm : a critique of the adaptationist programme.S. J. Gould & R. C. Lewontin - 2014 - In Francisco José Ayala & John C. Avise (eds.), Essential readings in evolutionary biology. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   143 citations  
  • Function and Teleology.Justin Garson - 2008 - In Sahorta Sarkar & Anya Plutynski (eds.), Companion to the Philosophy of Biology. Blackwell. pp. 525-549.
    This is a short overview of the biological functions debate in philosophy. While it was fairly comprehensive when it was written, my short book ​A Critical Overview of Biological Functions has largely supplanted it as a definitive and up-to-date overview of the debate, both because the book takes into account new developments since then, and because the length of the book allowed me to go into substantially more detail about existing views.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   23 citations  
  • Thoughts on teleology.Israel Scheffler - 1958 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 9 (33):265.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   18 citations  
  • What Functions Explain: Functional Explanation and Self-Reproducing Systems.Peter McLaughlin - 2000 - New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
    This 2001 book offers an examination of functional explanation as it is used in biology and the social sciences, and focuses on the kinds of philosophical presuppositions that such explanations carry with them. It tackles such questions as: why are some things explained functionally while others are not? What do the functional explanations tell us about how these objects are conceptualized? What do we commit ourselves to when we give and take functional explanations in the life sciences and the social (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   110 citations  
  • (1 other version)Function without Purpose: The Uses of Causal Role Function in Evolutionary Biology.Ron Amundson & George V. Lauder - 1998 - In David L. Hull & Michael Ruse (eds.), The philosophy of biology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 227--57.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   136 citations  
  • Functions and mechanisms: a perspectivalist view.Carl F. Craver - 2013 - In Philippe Huneman (ed.), Functions: selection and mechanisms. Springer. pp. 133--158.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   65 citations  
  • What is Biodiversity?James Maclaurin & Kim Sterelny - 2008 - University of Chicago Press.
    What Is Biodiversity? is a theoretical and conceptual exploration of the biological world and how diversity is valued. Maclaurin and Sterelny explore not only the origins of the concept of biodiversity, but also how that concept has been shaped by ecology and more recently by conservation biology. They explain the different types of biodiversity important in evolutionary theory, developmental biology, ecology, morphology and taxonomy and conclude that biological heritage is rich in not just one biodiversity but many. Maclaurin and Sterelny (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   78 citations  
  • (1 other version)The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme.S. J. Gould & R. C. Lewontin - 1994 - In Elliott Sober (ed.), Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology. The Mit Press. Bradford Books. pp. 73-90.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   638 citations  
  • An organizational account of biological functions.Matteo Mossio, Cristian Saborido & Alvaro Moreno - 2009 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60 (4):813-841.
    In this paper, we develop an organizational account that defines biological functions as causal relations subject to closure in living systems, interpreted as the most typical example of organizationally closed and differentiated self-maintaining systems. We argue that this account adequately grounds the teleological and normative dimensions of functions in the current organization of a system, insofar as it provides an explanation for the existence of the function bearer and, at the same time, identifies in a non-arbitrary way the norms that (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   178 citations  
  • Causal processes, fitness, and the differential persistence of lineages.Frédéric Bouchard - 2008 - Philosophy of Science 75 (5):560-570.
    Ecological fitness has been suggested to provide a unifying definition of fitness. However, a metric for this notion of fitness was in most cases unavailable except by proxy with differential reproductive success. In this article, I show how differential persistence of lineages can be used as a way to assess ecological fitness. This view is inspired by a better understanding of the evolution of some clonal plants, colonial organisms, and ecosystems. Differential persistence shows the limitation of an ensemblist noncausal understanding (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   54 citations  
  • The nature of selection: evolutionary theory in philosophical focus.Elliott Sober - 1984 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    The Nature of Selection is a straightforward, self-contained introduction to philosophical and biological problems in evolutionary theory. It presents a powerful analysis of the evolutionary concepts of natural selection, fitness, and adaptation and clarifies controversial issues concerning altruism, group selection, and the idea that organisms are survival machines built for the good of the genes that inhabit them. "Sober's is the answering philosophical voice, the voice of a first-rate philosopher and a knowledgeable student of contemporary evolutionary theory. His book merits (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   755 citations  
  • The neural basis of cognitive development: A constructivist manifesto.Steven R. Quartz & Terrence J. Sejnowski - 1997 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20 (4):537-556.
    How do minds emerge from developing brains? According to the representational features of cortex are built from the dynamic interaction between neural growth mechanisms and environmentally derived neural activity. Contrary to popular selectionist models that emphasize regressive mechanisms, the neurobiological evidence suggests that this growth is a progressive increase in the representational properties of cortex. The interaction between the environment and neural growth results in a flexible type of learning: minimizes the need for prespecification in accordance with recent neurobiological evidence (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   104 citations  
  • Function, homology and character individuation.Paul E. Griffiths - 2006 - Philosophy of Science 73 (1):1-25.
    I defend the view that many biological categories are defined by homology against a series of arguments designed to show that all biological categories are defined, at least in part, by selected function. I show that categories of homology are `abnormality inclusive'—something often alleged to be unique to selected function categories. I show that classifications by selected function are logically dependent on classifications by homology, but not vice-versa. Finally, I reject the view that biologists must use considerations of selected function (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   62 citations  
  • (1 other version)Function without purpose.Ron Amundson & George V. Lauder - 1994 - Biology and Philosophy 9 (4):443-469.
    Philosophers of evolutionary biology favor the so-called etiological concept of function according to which the function of a trait is its evolutionary purpose, defined as the effect for which that trait was favored by natural selection. We term this the selected effect (SE) analysis of function. An alternative account of function was introduced by Robert Cummins in a non-evolutionary and non-purposive context. Cummins''s account has received attention but little support from philosophers of biology. This paper will show that a similar (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   121 citations  
  • Functions.Larry Wright - 1973 - Philosophical Review 82 (2):139-168.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   561 citations  
  • Proper function and recent selection.Peter H. Schwartz - 1999 - Philosophy of Science 66 (3):210-222.
    "Modern History" versions of the etiological theory claim that in order for a trait X to have the proper function F, individuals with X must have been recently favored by natural selection for doing F (Godfrey-Smith 1994; Griffiths 1992, 1993). For many traits with prototypical proper functions, however, such recent selection may not have occurred: traits may have been maintained due to lack of variation or due to selection for other effects. I examine this flaw in Modern History accounts and (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   20 citations  
  • A modern history theory of functions.Peter Godfrey-Smith - 1994 - Noûs 28 (3):344-362.
    Biological functions are dispositions or effects a trait has which explain the recent maintenance of the trait under natural selection. This is the "modern history" approach to functions. The approach is historical because to ascribe a function is to make a claim about the past, but the relevant past is the recent past; modern history rather than ancient.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   269 citations  
  • Role functions, mechanisms, and hierarchy.Carl F. Craver - 2001 - Philosophy of Science 68 (1):53-74.
    Many areas of science develop by discovering mechanisms and role functions. Cummins' (1975) analysis of role functions-according to which an item's role function is a capacity of that item that appears in an analytic explanation of the capacity of some containing system-captures one important sense of "function" in the biological sciences and elsewhere. Here I synthesize Cummins' account with recent work on mechanisms and causal/mechanical explanation. The synthesis produces an analysis of specifically mechanistic role functions, one that uses the characteristic (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   258 citations  
  • Wright on functions.Christopher Boorse - 1976 - Philosophical Review 85 (1):70-86.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   209 citations  
  • Where's the good in teleology?Mark Bedau - 1992 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (4):781-806.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   51 citations  
  • Conditions for Evolution by Natural Selection.Peter Godfrey-Smith - 2007 - Journal of Philosophy 104 (10):489-516.
    Both biologists and philosophers often make use of simple verbal formulations of necessary and sufficient conditions for evolution by natural selection (ENS). Such summaries go back to Darwin's Origin of Species (especially the "Recapitulation"), but recent ones are more compact.1 Perhaps the most commonly cited formulation is due to Lewontin.2 These summaries tend to have three or four conditions, where the core requirement is a combination of variation, heredity, and fitness differences. The summaries are employed in several ways. First, they (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   63 citations  
  • Molecular Models of Life: Philosophical Papers on Molecular Biology.Sahotra Sarkar - 2004 - Bradford.
    Despite the transformation in biological practice and theory brought about by discoveries in molecular biology, until recently philosophy of biology continued to focus on evolutionary biology. When the Human Genome Project got underway in the late 1980s and early 1990s, philosophers of biology -- unlike historians and social scientists -- had little to add to the debate. In this landmark collection of essays, Sahotra Sarkar broadens the scope of current discussions of the philosophy of biology, viewing molecular biology as a (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   30 citations  
  • Reality and representation.David Papineau - 1987 - New York: Blackwell.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   172 citations  
  • Functions: consensus without unity.Peter Godfrey-Smith - 1993 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 74 (3):196-208.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   133 citations  
  • Does the concept of “clade selection” make sense?Samir Okasha - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (4):739-751.
    The idea that clades might be units of selection, defended by a number of biologists and philosophers of biology, is critically examined. I argue that only entities which reproduce, i.e. leave offspring, can be units of selection, and that a necessary condition of reproduction is that the offspring entity be able, in principle, to outlive its parental entity. Given that clades are monophlyetic by definition, it follows that clades do not reproduce, so it makes no sense to talk about a (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   14 citations  
  • Functions as Selected Effects: The Conceptual Analyst’s Defense.Karen Neander - 1991 - Philosophy of Science 58 (2):168-184.
    In this paper I defend an etiological theory of biological functions (according to which the proper function of a trait is the effect for which it was selected by natural selection) against three objections which have been influential. I argue, contrary to Millikan, that it is wrong to base our defense of the theory on a rejection of conceptual analysis, for conceptual analysis does have an important role in philosophy of science. I also argue that biology requires a normative notion (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   422 citations  
  • Functional analysis and proper functions.Paul E. Griffiths - 1993 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44 (3):409-422.
    The etiological approach to ‘proper functions’ in biology can be strengthened by relating it to Robert Cummins' general treatment of function ascription. The proper functions of a biological trait are the functions it is assigned in a Cummins-style functional explanation of the fitness of ancestors. These functions figure in selective explanations of the trait. It is also argued that some recent etiological theories include inaccurate accounts of selective explanation in biology. Finally, a generalization of the notion of selective explanation allows (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   193 citations  
  • Selection type theories.Lindley Darden & Joseph A. Cain - 1989 - Philosophy of Science 56 (1):106-129.
    Selection type theories solve adaptation problems. Natural selection, clonal selection for antibody production, and selective theories of higher brain function are examples. An abstract characterization of typical selection processes is generated by analyzing and extending previous work on the nature of natural selection. Once constructed, this abstraction provides a useful tool for analyzing the nature of other selection theories and may be of use in new instances of theory construction. This suggests the potential fruitfulness of research to find other theory (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   55 citations  
  • Teleology and the logical structure of function statements.William C. Wimsatt - 1972 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 3 (1):1-80.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   161 citations  
  • (1 other version)Four notions of biological function.Arno G. Wouters - 2002 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 34 (4):633-668.
    I argue that there are at least four different ways in which the term ‘function’ is used in connection with the study of living organisms, namely: function as activity, function as biological role, function as biological advantage, and function as selected effect. Notion refers to what an item does by itself; refers to the contribution of an item or activity to a complex activity or capacity of an organism; refers to the value for the organism of an item having a (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   72 citations  
  • Discovery and explanation in biology and medicine.Kenneth F. Schaffner - 1993 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    Kenneth F. Schaffner compares the practice of biological and medical research and shows how traditional topics in philosophy of science—such as the nature of theories and of explanation—can illuminate the life sciences. While Schaffner pays some attention to the conceptual questions of evolutionary biology, his chief focus is on the examples that immunology, human genetics, neuroscience, and internal medicine provide for examinations of the way scientists develop, examine, test, and apply theories. Although traditional philosophy of science has regarded scientific discovery—the (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   190 citations  
  • A general account of selection: Biology, immunology, and behavior.David L. Hull, Rodney E. Langman & Sigrid S. Glenn - 2001 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (3):511-528.
    Authors frequently refer to gene-based selection in biological evolution, the reaction of the immune system to antigens, and operant learning as exemplifying selection processes in the same sense of this term. However, as obvious as this claim may seem on the surface, setting out an account of “selection” that is general enough to incorporate all three of these processes without becoming so general as to be vacuous is far from easy. In this target article, we set out such a general (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   74 citations  
  • Fitness and function.D. M. Walsh - 1996 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47 (4):553-574.
    According to historical theories of biological function, a trait's function is determined by natural selection in the past. I argue that, in addition to historical functions, ahistorical functions ought to be recognized. I propose a theory of biological function which accommodates both. The function of a trait is the way it contributes to fitness and fitness can only be determined relative to a selective regime. Therefore, the function of a trait can only be specified relative to a selective regime. Apart (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   76 citations  
  • Functions.John Bigelow & Robert Pargetter - 1987 - Journal of Philosophy 84 (4):181-196.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   225 citations  
  • Function, fitness and disposition.Sandra D. Mitchell - 1995 - Biology and Philosophy 10 (1):39-54.
    In this paper I discuss recent debates concerning etiological theories of functions. I defend an etiological theory against two criticisms, namely the ability to account for malfunction, and the problem of structural doubles. I then consider the arguments provided by Bigelow and Pargetter (1987) for a more forward looking account of functions as propensities or dispositions. I argue that their approach fails to address the explanatory problematic for which etiological theories were developed.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   20 citations  
  • (1 other version)Where Biology Meets Psychology: Philosophical Essays.Valerie Gray Hardcastle - 1999 - MIT Press. Edited by Valerie Gray Hardcastle.
    This book is perhaps the first to open a dialogue between the two disciplines.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   19 citations  
  • What Functions Explain: Functional Explanation and Self-Reproducing Systems.Beth Preston - 2002 - Mind 111 (444):888-891.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   33 citations  
  • Biological function, adaptation, and natural design.Colin Allen & Marc Bekoff - 1995 - Philosophy of Science 62 (4):609-622.
    Recently something close to a consensus about the best way to naturalize the notion of biological function appears to be emerging. Nonetheless, teleological notions in biology remain controversial. In this paper we provide a naturalistic analysis for the notion of natural design. Many authors assume that natural design should be assimilated directly to function. Others find the notion problematic because it suggests that evolution is a directed process. We argue that both of these views are mistaken. Our naturalistic account does (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   49 citations  
  • Function and Design.Philip Kitcher - 1993 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 18 (1):379-397.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   157 citations  
  • (1 other version)Indication and adaptation.Peter Godfrey-Smith - 1992 - Synthese 92 (2):283-312.
    This paper examines the relationship between a family of concepts involving reliable correlation, and a family of concepts involving adaptation and biological function, as these concepts are used in the naturalistic semantic theory of Dretske's "Explaining Behavior." I argue that Dretske's attempt to marry correlation and function to produce representation fails, though aspects of his failure point the way forward to a better theory.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   43 citations  
  • A Taxonomy of Functions.Denis M. Walsh & André Ariew - 1996 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 26 (4):493 - 514.
    There are two general approaches to characterising biological functions. One originates with Cummins. According to this approach, the function of a part of a system is just its causal contribution to some specified activity of the system. Call this the ‘C-function’ concept. The other approach ties the function of a trait to some aspect of its evolutionary significance. Call this the ‘E-function’ concept. According to the latter view, a trait's function is determined by the forces of natural selection. The C-function (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   61 citations  
  • (1 other version)Four notions of biological function.Arno G. Wouters - 2003 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 34 (4):633-668.
    I argue that there are at least four different ways in which the term ‘function’ is used in connection with the study of living organisms, namely: function as activity, function as biological role, function as biological advantage, and function as selected effect. Notion refers to what an item does by itself; refers to the contribution of an item or activity to a complex activity or capacity of an organism; refers to the value for the organism of an item having a (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   78 citations  
  • Reply to Alexander Rosenberg's Review of The Nature of Selection.Elliott Sober - 1986 - Behaviorism 14 (1):77-88.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   408 citations  
  • What is Wrong with Etiological Accounts of Biological Function?Elizabeth W. Prior - 2017 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 66 (3-4):310-328.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   14 citations  
  • Learning and selection.Justine Kingsbury - 2008 - Biology and Philosophy 23 (4):493-507.
    Are learning processes selection processes? This paper takes a slightly modified version of the account of selection presented in Hull et al. (Behav Brain Sci 24:511–527, 2001) and asks whether it applies to learning processes. The answer is that although some learning processes are selectional, many are not. This has consequences for teleological theories of mental content. According to these theories, mental states have content in virtue of having proper functions, and they have proper functions in virtue of being the (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   24 citations  
  • Functional statements in biology.Michael E. Ruse - 1971 - Philosophy of Science 38 (1):87-95.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   41 citations  
  • Norms of Nature. Naturalism and the Nature of Functions.Tim Lewens - 2002 - Mind 111 (443):657-662.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   44 citations