An Organizational Account of Biological Functions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8397162 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matteo Mossio (0000-0003-0831-0815, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author), Cristian Saborido (0000-0001-8778-4298, University of the Basque Country, corresponding author), Alvaro Moreno (0000-0002-2612-8403, University of the Basque Country, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 813-841 |
| Publication date | 2009-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/axp036 |
| OpenAlex | W2169108009 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 95 |
| References cited | 42 |
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 functions are supposed to obey. Accordingly, we suggest that the organizational account combines the etiological and dispositional perspectives in an integrated theoretical framework. 1. Introduction 2. Dispositional Approaches 3. Etiological Theories 4. Biological Self-maintenance 4.1. Closure, teleology, and normativity 4.2. Organizational differentiation 5. Functions 5.1. C1: Contributing to the maintenance of the organization 5.2. C2: Producing the functional trait 6. Implications and Objections 6.1. Functional versus useful 6.2. Dysfunctions, side effects, and accidental contributions 6.3. Proper functions and selected effects 6.4. Reproduction 6.5. Relation with other ‘unitarian’ approaches 7. Conclusions
Epistemology · Computer Science · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
Topographical constraints, ecological units, and system memory
Borderline Experiences One Cannot Undergo
La biología sintética como desafío para comprender la autonomía de lo vivo
Morir para vivir. La muerte celular como proceso regulador
Darwinian functional biology
Two dimensions of the biological function debate
A Domino Theory of Disease
The Modal Theory of Function Is Not about Functions
Functions and History
Function, Fitness, Flourishing
Representation in Cognitive Science
What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter
Defining Agency
Autonomy and Enactivism
Naturalistic Moral Realism and Evolutionary Biology
On the Explicit Function of Life within a Physical Universe
Are Biology Experts and Novices Function Pluralists
Precedent as a path laid down in walking
Wakefield’s harmful dysfunction analysis of disorder and the problem of defining harm to nonsentient organisms
Brain Disorders, Dysfunctions, and Natural Selection
On uniqueness claims and the nature of language
Reinforcement learning and artificial agency
Forward-Looking Concept Functions and the Function/Accident Distinction
On the Naturalized Explanations of the Teleology of Ecosystem Development from the Framework of Thermodynamics
A Dual-Aspect Theory of Artifact Function
Biological Purposes Beyond Natural Selection
What constitutes the health subject
Organisational teleology 2.0
The purpose of behavior and the meaning of thought
How to Make a Functionalist Argument
The Four Analytic Levels of Social Sciences
The concept of mechanism in biology
Kant, Linnaeus, and the economy of nature
The machine conception of the organism in development and evolution
Holobionts
Organism and artifact
Revisiting darwinian teleology
Functional explanation and the problem of functional equivalence
Can functionality in evolving networks be explained reductively
Organisms≠Machines
Why Wake the Dead? Identity and De-extinction
Function and Selection Beyond Externalism
The ‘Is’ and the ‘Ought’ of the Animal Organism
What teleology (if any) does the Organisational Approach naturalise
Extended inheritance from an organizational point of view
Some conceptual issues in the transition from chemistry to biology
Georges Canguilhem on sex determination and the normativity of life
From the Organizational Theory of Ecological Functions to a New Notion of Sustainability
Gaia as Seen from Within
Biological Interests, Normative Functions, and Synthetic Biology
Hegel on the Normativity of Animal Life
Hegel's Organizational Account of Biological Functions
Do Functions Explain? Hegel and the Organizational View
The new evil demon problem at 40
Response to Neander's Critics
Communication as Socially Extended Active Inference
Teleology and mechanism
Organizational normativity and teleology
What makes biological organisation teleological
Proper environment and the SEP account of biological function
Autonomy in evolution
A trilemma for teleological individualism
Deflating the functional turn in conceptual engineering
Possibility spaces and the notion of novelty
Against etiological function accounts of interests
Towards a characterization of metaphysics of biology
How objective are biological functions
Teleology and function in non-living nature
A persistence enhancing propensity account of ecological function to explain ecosystem evolution
Radical embodied cognitive science and problems of intentionality
Whose purposes? Biological teleology and intentionality
The open texture of functions
Invasive species and natural function in ecology
The function argument for ascribing interests
The teleological modal profile and subjunctive background of organic generation and growth
Varieties of normativity and mental health
Biological functions, generics, and explanation
Organization needs organization
Minimal logical teleology in artifacts and biology connects the two domains and frames mechanisms via epistemic circularity
Dispositionalism and Dysfunction
Against Organizational Functions
A Generalized Selected Effects Theory of Function
Two Notions of Ecological Function
Functions and Functioning in Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic and in Ecology
The Concept of Function in Social Positioning Theory
Biological Organization and Cross-Generation Functions
Conserving Functions across Generations
Proper Functions are Proximal Functions
How to Be a Function Pluralist
Neural Oscillations as Representations
Mechanistic Explanations and Teleological Functions
No Function without Service
Some Proper Functions are Distal
The Return of the Organism as a Fundamental Explanatory Concept in Biology
Normal-proper functions in the philosophy of mind
Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories
Investigations
Teleological Explanations
White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice
Functional Analysis
Functions
Symposium on sociological theory
Functional Statements in Biology
In Defense of Proper Functions
Behavior, Purpose and Teleology
Functions as Selected Effects
Biological Function, Adaptation, and Natural Design
Role Functions, Mechanisms, and Hierarchy
Functions
Wright on Functions
Functional Analysis and Proper Functions
Fitness and Function
Teleological Explanation in Biology
White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice
| Unique citing works | 95 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,59 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 86 |