Philosophy of Science 80 (3):317-333 (2013)
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Abstract |
This article presents a distinct sense of ‘mechanism’, which I call the functional sense of
mechanism. According to this sense, mechanisms serve functions, and this fact places
substantive restrictions on the kinds of system activities ‘for which’ there can be a mechanism.
On this view, there are no mechanisms for pathology; pathologies result from disrupting
mechanisms for functions. Second, on this sense, natural selection is probably not
a mechanism for evolution because it does not serve a function. After distinguishing this
sense fromsimilar explications of ‘mechanism’, I argue that it is ubiquitous in biology and
has valuable epistemic benefits.
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Keywords | Mechanisms Biological Functions Philosophy of Biology |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1086/671173 |
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References found in this work BETA
Thinking About Mechanisms.Peter Machamer, Lindley Darden & Carl F. Craver - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (1):1-25.
Discovering Complexity: Decomposition and Localization as Strategies in Scientific Research.William Bechtel & Robert C. Richardson - 1993 - Princeton.
In Defense of Proper Functions.Ruth Garrett Millikan - 1989 - Philosophy of Science 56 (June):288-302.
Misrepresentation.Fred I. Dretske - 1986 - In Radu Bogdan (ed.), Belief: Form, Content, and Function. Oxford University Press. pp. 17--36.
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Citations of this work BETA
Mechanism, Autonomy and Biological Explanation.Leonardo Bich & William Bechtel - 2021 - Biology and Philosophy 36 (6):1-27.
Evolution, Dysfunction, and Disease: A Reappraisal.Paul E. Griffiths & John Matthewson - 2018 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 69 (2):301-327.
From Wide Cognition to Mechanisms: A Silent Revolution.Marcin Miłkowski, Robert Clowes, Zuzanna Rucińska, Aleksandra Przegalińska, Tadeusz Zawidzki, Joel Krueger, Adam Gies, Marek McGann, Łukasz Afeltowicz, Witold Wachowski, Fredrik Stjernberg, Victor Loughlin & Mateusz Hohol - 2018 - Frontiers in Psychology 9.
Are There Teleological Functions to Compute?Dimitri Coelho Mollo - 2019 - Philosophy of Science 86 (3):431-452.
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