Functional Analysis and Proper Functions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8399587 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul E Griffiths (0000-0002-8657-6873, University of Otago, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1993 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 409-422 |
| Publication date | 1993-09-01 |
| 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/44.3.409 |
| OpenAlex | W2156505445 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 80 |
| References cited | 10 |
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 an analysis of the proper functions of human artifacts.
Ascription · Biology · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Function (biology) · Generalization · Trait · Computer Science · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology
Functional analysis at the societal level
O que é função? Debates na filosofia da biologia contemporânea
Two dimensions of the biological function debate
A Domino Theory of Disease
The Epistemic Significance of Collaborative Research
Biological Function
What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter
Origins of Objectivity
Memory for Agency
A Framework for the Emotional Psychology of Group Membership
How is the Mind/Brain Composed? Two Sorts of Mechanisms in Cognitive Science
Are Biology Experts and Novices Function Pluralists
Explaining Social Normativity
Biological normativity
Moral Assertion
Forward-Looking Concept Functions and the Function/Accident Distinction
A Dual-Aspect Theory of Artifact Function
Biological Purposes Beyond Natural Selection
Genericity generalized
How to Make a Functionalist Argument
Chasing shadows
Teleology and its constitutive role for biology as the science of organized systems in nature
Encode and the parts of the human genome
Naturalizing functions—unity beyond pluralism
Revisiting darwinian teleology
Norms for emotions
Four notions of biological function
Functional explanation and the problem of functional equivalence
The function of function
Natural sources of normativity
Functional and Causal Explanations in Group Communication Research
Function and Selection Beyond Externalism
Hawks, Doves, and Perissodus microlepis. Undermining the selected effects theory of function
Two Conceptions of Technical Malfunction
The Selfish Meme
The function of perceptual learning
Biological Interests, Normative Functions, and Synthetic Biology
Historical Kinds in the Social World
Ontology and Teleofunctions
Functions as based on a concept of general design
Functional analysis and the species design
Proper environment and the SEP account of biological function
New challenges to the selected effects account of biological function
Evolutionary debunking arguments, commonsense and scepticism
Unpacking conceptual function as tool function
Do opaque algorithms have functions
Assigning biological functions
How objective are biological functions
Function, selection, and construction in the brain
Whose purposes? Biological teleology and intentionality
The open texture of functions
Invasive species and natural function in ecology
Self-re-Production and Functionality
Function, persistence, and selection
Minimal logical teleology in artifacts and biology connects the two domains and frames mechanisms via epistemic circularity
Biological functions are causes, not effects
Edmond Goblot’s (1858–1935) Selected Effects Theory of Function
Proper Function and Recent Selection
Function and Functionalism
Dispositionalism and Dysfunction
Natural Selection and the Unity of Functional Analyses
Biological Function, Adaptation, and Natural Design
A Generalized Selected Effects Theory of Function
Functions and Populations
Teleosemantics without Etiology
Psychologie évolutionniste et théories interdomaines
The Baby and the Bathwater
Fitness and Function
How to Be a Function Pluralist
Against Computational Perspectivalism
Mechanistic Explanations and Teleological Functions
An Organizational Account of Biological Functions
No Function without Service
Biological Function, Selection, and Reduction
Evolution, Dysfunction, and Disease
Ascribing Functions to Technical Artefacts
Reasoning Is for Arguing
Species Natures
Teleosemantics
Normal-proper functions in the philosophy of mind
| Unique citing works | 80 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,58 |
| Citation span | 1995 - 2026 (32) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 75 |