Paper Info
Title
Assigning biological functions: making sense of causal chains
Abstract
A meaningful distinction can be made between functions and mere effects in biological systems without resorting to teleological arguments: (i) biological systems must cope with a multitude of problems or they will cease to exist; (ii) the solutions to these problems invariably depend on circular causal chains (“feedback loops”); and (iii) biological functions are attributes of elements in biological systems that have an effect which, by contributing to the correcting behavior of a feedback control system, assists in solving a biological problem. The analysis is applied to several biological systems. The proposed solution is discussed primarily in its relation to two popular approaches to the concept of biological function, i.e., the “causal role accounts” and the “selected effect accounts”.
Year
DOI
Venue
2008
10.1007/s11229-007-9160-2
Synthese
Keywords
Field
DocType
Biological function,Causal chains,Teleology
Multitude,Teleological argument,Artificial intelligence,Control system,Teleology,Epistemology,Biological Problem,Mathematics
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
161
2
0039-7857
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
1
0.37
0
Authors
1
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
B. B. Edin1819.55