What Biological Functions Are And Why They Matter
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What Biological Functions Are And Why They Matter
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Author : Justin Garson
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2019-01-10
What Biological Functions Are And Why They Matter written by Justin Garson and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019-01-10 with History categories.
This accessible book presents a new theory of biological functions and connects it to contemporary problems in philosophy and science.
A Critical Overview Of Biological Functions
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Author : Justin Garson
language : en
Publisher: Springer
Release Date : 2016-03-30
A Critical Overview Of Biological Functions written by Justin Garson and has been published by Springer this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016-03-30 with Philosophy categories.
This book is a critical survey of and guidebook to the literature on biological functions. It ties in with current debates and developments, and at the same time, it looks back on the state of discourse in naturalized teleology prior to the 1970s. It also presents three significant new proposals. First, it describes the generalized selected effects theory, which is one version of the selected effects theory, maintaining that the function of a trait consists in the activity that led to its differential persistence or reproduction in a population, and not merely its differential reproduction. Secondly, it advances “within-discipline pluralism” (as opposed to between-discipline pluralism) a new form of function pluralism, which emphasizes the coexistence of function concepts within diverse biological sub-disciplines. Lastly, it provides a critical assessment of recent alternatives to the selected effects theory of function, namely, the weak etiological theory and the systems-theoretic theory. The book argues that, to the extent that functions purport to offer causal explanations for the existence of a trait, there are no viable alternatives to the selected effects view. The debate about biological functions is still as relevant and important to biology and philosophy as it ever was. Recent controversies surrounding the ENCODE Project Consortium in genetics, the nature of psychiatric classification, and the value of ecological restoration, all point to the continuing relevance to biology of philosophical discussion about the nature of functions. In philosophy, ongoing debates about the nature of biological information, intentionality, health and disease, mechanism, and even biological trait classification, are closely related to debates about biological functions.
Functions From Organisms To Artefacts
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Author : Jean Gayon
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2023-07-25
Functions From Organisms To Artefacts written by Jean Gayon and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-07-25 with Philosophy categories.
This book, originally published in French, examines the philosophical debates on functions over the last forty years and proposes new ways of analysis. Pervasive throughout the life sciences, the concept of function has the air of an epistemological scandal: ascribing a function to a biological structure or process amounts to suggesting that it is explained by its effects. This book confronts the debates on function with the use of the notion in a wide range of disciplines, such as biology, psychology, and medicine. It also raises the question of whether this notion, which is as old in the history of technology as it is in the life sciences, has the same meaning in these two domains.
The Biological Mind
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Author : Justin Garson
language : en
Publisher: Routledge
Release Date : 2022-03-16
The Biological Mind written by Justin Garson and has been published by Routledge this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2022-03-16 with Philosophy categories.
For some, biology explains all there is to know about the mind. Yet many big questions remain: Is the mind shaped by genes or the environment? If mental traits are the result of adaptations built up over thousands of years, as evolutionary psychologists claim, how can such claims be tested? If the mind is a machine, as biologists argue, how does it allow for something as complex as human thought? Revised and updated to take account of new developments in the field, The Biological Mind: A Philosophical Introduction explores these questions and more, using the philosophy of biology to introduce and assess the nature of the mind. Justin Garson addresses the following key topics: moral psychology, altruism, and levels of selection; evolutionary psychology and the adaptationism debate; genes, environment, and the nature–nurture debate; natural selection and mental representation; psychiatric classification and the maladapted mind. This second edition includes three new chapters on race, sex, and human nature as well as new sections on group and kin selection, psychological altruism, and cultural evolution. Including chapter summaries, annotated further readings, a glossary of terms, and examples and case studies throughout, this is an indispensable introduction for those teaching philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of biology. It will also be an excellent resource for those in related fields such as biology.
Ernest Nagel Philosophy Of Science And The Fight For Clarity
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Author : Matthias Neuber
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2021-09-21
Ernest Nagel Philosophy Of Science And The Fight For Clarity written by Matthias Neuber and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-09-21 with Science categories.
This volume is dedicated to the life and work of Ernest Nagel (1901-1985) counted among the influential twentieth-century philosophers of science. Forgotten by the history of philosophy of science community in recent years, this volume introduces Nagel’s philosophy to a new generation of readers and highlights the merits and originality of his works. Best known in the history of philosophy as a major American representative of logical empiricism with some pragmatist and naturalist leanings, Nagel’s interests and activities went beyond these limits. His career was marked with a strong and determined intention of harmonizing the European scientific worldview of logical empiricism and American naturalism/pragmatism. His most famous and systematic treatise on, The Structure of Science, appeared just one year before Thomas Kuhn’s even more renowned, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. As a reflection of Nagel’s interdisciplinary work, the contributing authors’ articles are connected both historically and systematically. The volume will appeal to students mainly at the graduate level and academic scholars. Since the volume treats historical, philosophical, physical, social and general scientific questions, it will be of interest to historians and philosophers of science, epistemologists, social scientists, and anyone interested in the history of analytic philosophy and twentieth-century intellectual history.
Presentist Social Functionalism Bringing Contemporary Evolutionary Biology To The Social Sciences
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Author : Armin W. Schulz
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2025-07-14
Presentist Social Functionalism Bringing Contemporary Evolutionary Biology To The Social Sciences written by Armin W. Schulz and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2025-07-14 with Science categories.
This open access book presents and defends a new approach towards social functionalism: Presentist Social Functionalism. This approach draws on recent developments in evolutionary biology and philosophy of biology to provide a more compelling theoretical foundation for functionalist social analysis. Functionalist approaches to the social sciences—which aim at using facts about what social institutions are for to provide a fulcrum with which to understand, evaluate, and respond to social reality—are about as old as the subject itself, but have also been the subject of much criticism. In particular, a widespread concern for the functionalist tradition in the social sciences is that functional ascriptions often lack a plausible theoretical grounding, and that where such a theoretical grounding can be provided, the empirical presuppositions of this grounding often fail to be met. However, recent developments in evolutionary biology and the philosophy of biology promise to change this situation: they show that functional ascription can be compellingly made in an ahistorical, non-reproduction-based, and non-normative manner, which makes it possible to develop a new account of social functionalism that can fulfil the latter’s theoretical and empirical desiderata. To show this, the book begins by laying out the major existing accounts of social functionalism and detailing their challenges. It then develops the new, alternative account of Presentist Social Functionalism. Given its interdisciplinary nature and application-focused approach, the book is of interest to researchers in a variety of fields, from evolutionary biology to the social sciences and philosophy.
On The Riddle Of Life
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Author : Bohang Chen
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2024-09-12
On The Riddle Of Life written by Bohang Chen and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-09-12 with Philosophy categories.
This book presents a historico-logical study of vitalism. It begins by uncovering previously unknown doctrines of vitalism from the history of science—encompassing biological, physical, and social sciences—and then subjects these doctrines to a thorough logical analysis. Through this process, the book offers a unified conceptual framework to understand the major doctrines of vitalism in the history of science, ultimately relating vitalism to the question of life. Following the classical methodological approach endorsed by Immanuel Kant, nineteenth-century philosopher-scientists like Ernst Mach, and early-twentieth-century logical analysts, including logical empiricists, British analysts, pragmatists, Husserlian phenomenologists, and neo-Kantians, this work provides unconventional and valuable perspectives on vitalism and the riddle of life, appealing to a broad audience, including scientists, historians, and philosophers of science, particularly those from biological backgrounds.
The Nature Of The Sexes
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Author : Tomás Bogardus
language : en
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Release Date : 2025-09-15
The Nature Of The Sexes written by Tomás Bogardus and has been published by Taylor & Francis this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2025-09-15 with Philosophy categories.
How complex is sex? According to this book, not nearly as complex as we’re often told these days. Author Tomás Bogardus first critically evaluates varieties of a complex view of sex—supported by Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sarah Richardson, and others—in which sex is a constellation of traits related to chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and phenotypes. Bogardus then considers several gamete-based accounts of sex, to which he is more sympathetic, including those from Alex Byrne, Laura Franklin-Hall, and Paul Griffiths. Shortcomings of these views are described, and an improved account is proposed: the sexes are activated higher-order functions. In short, to be male is to have the function of producing sperm, and to be female is to have the function of producing eggs. Bogardus develops this view, all while untangling the various meanings and definitions of 'gender' and 'gender identity', and while examining whether all of them are ultimately defined in terms of the sexes. The author then defends his methodology of deferring to biologists when figuring out the nature of the sexes and concludes with practical questions about whether we should revise the meanings of our sex terms for the sake of social justice. He asks whether pronouns like ‘he’ and ‘she’ track biological sex, and whether they should continue to do so. The Nature of the Sexes: Why Biology Matters expands current philosophical debate on sex and gender, and is essential reading for curious students and academics alike.
Neurocognitive Mechanisms
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Author : Gualtiero Piccinini
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2020-11-12
Neurocognitive Mechanisms written by Gualtiero Piccinini and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-11-12 with Science categories.
In Neurocognitive Mechanisms Gualtiero Piccinini presents the most systematic, rigorous, and comprehensive philosophical defence to date of the computational theory of cognition. His view posits that cognition involves neural computation within multilevel neurocognitive mechanisms, and includes novel ideas about ontology, functions, neural representation, neural computation, and consciousness. He begins by defending an ontologically egalitarian account of composition and realization, according to which all levels are equally real. He then explicates multiple realizability and mechanisms within this ontologically egalitarian framework, defends a goal-contribution account of teleological functions, and defends a mechanistic version of functionalism. This provides the foundation for a mechanistic account of computation, which in turn clarifies the ways in which the computational theory of cognition is a multilevel mechanistic theory supported by contemporary cognitive neuroscience. Piccinini argues that cognition is computational at least in a generic sense. He defends the computational theory of cognition from standard objections, yet also rebuts putative a priori arguments. He contends that the typical vehicles of neural computations are representations, and that, contrary to the received view, the representations posited by the computational theory of cognition are observable and manipulatable in the laboratory. He also contends that neural computations are neither digital nor analog; instead, neural computations are sui generis. He concludes by investigating the relation between computation and consciousness, suggesting that consciousness may be a functional phenomenon without being computational in nature. This book will be of interest to philosophers of cognitive science as well as neuroscientists.
Engineering And Value Change
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Author : Christelle Didier
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date :
Engineering And Value Change written by Christelle Didier and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on with categories.