Teleological Explanation in Biology

The Function Debate in Philosophy

“…the statement 'the heart of vertebrates has the function to circulate the blood' in answer to the question 'why do vertebrates have a heart?'). The latter view is defended by Canfield (1964) and assumed by many others. The idea that function attributions are intrinsically explanatory is at the heart of the etiological approach (see Wright, 1973Wright, , 1976Millikan, 1989a;Neander, 1991b).…”

“…Roughly speaking, one may distinguish five main approaches to an analysis of function: the systemic approach (Cummins, 1975(Cummins, , 1983Prior, 1985;Craver, 2001;Davies, 2001), which defines function as a contribution to a capacity of a complex system (Section 3.2); the goal contribution approach (Nagel, 1961;Boorse, 1976Boorse, , 2002Adams, 1979;Enç and Adams, 1992), which defines function as a contribution to the achievement and/or maintenance of a goal state (Section 3.3); the life chances approach (Canfield, 1964(Canfield, , 1965Ruse, 1971;Wimsatt, 1972;Bigelow andPargetter, 1987, Horan, 1989), which sees functions as effects that enhance the life chances of their bearers (Section 3.4); the etiological (or historical) approach (Neander, 1980(Neander, , 1983(Neander, , 1991aMillikan, 1984Millikan, , 1989bMitchell, 1989;Brandon, 1990;Griffiths, 1993;Godfrey-Smith, 1994;Buller, 1998), which sees functions as past effects that explain the current presence of the function bearer (Section 3.5); and the non-historical selection approach (Kitcher, 1993;Walsh, 1996), which sees functions as effects for which the function bearer is selected (in certain circumstances) (Section 3.6). As an example consider the function of the heart to propel the blood (which is the philosopher's favorite example and quite often the only one mentioned).…”

In What Sense Does ‘Nothing Make Sense Except in the Light of Evolution’?

“…This is a 'forward-looking', evolutionary sense of function as opposed to the backwards-looking evolutionary sense of selected function. Forward-looking evolutionary analyses of function ascriptions in biology have been proposed before (Bigelow & Pargetter, 1987;Canfield, 1964), but the view that such a sense of 'function' plays a significant role in biology has never been widely accepted.…”

Images et réalités du behaviorisme

“…. .v.g Becker, 1968 ;Nagel, 1961 ;Canfield, 1963). Non pas que l'explication fonctionnelle soit condamnée par les behavioristes ; au contraire, beaucoup de concepts behavioristes sont fonctionnels.…”