Téléchargez le livre : A Critical Overview of Biological Functions

A Critical Overview of Biological Functions



de

Éditeur :

Springer


Paru le : 2016-03-30



eBook Téléchargement , DRM LCP 🛈 DRM Adobe 🛈
Lecture en ligne (streaming)
68,56 €
Téléchargement immédiat
Dès validation de votre commande
Ajouter à ma liste d'envies
Image Louise Reader présentation

Louise Reader

Lisez ce titre sur l'application Louise Reader.

badge apple Application Louise Reader
badge Android Application Louise Reader
Description

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.
Pages
113 pages
Collection
n.c
Parution
2016-03-30
Marque
Springer
EAN papier
9783319320182
EAN EPUB
9783319320205
Informations sur l'ebook
Nombre pages copiables
1
Nombre pages imprimables
11
Taille du fichier
276 Ko
Ce livre est accessible aux handicaps Voir les informations sur l'accessibilité
Prix
68,56 €
Justin Garson is an assistant professor of philosophy at Hunter College-CUNY. He has authored or co-authored dozens articles in the philosophy of science, the history of neuroscience and medicine, and biodiversity conservation. His first book, The Biological Mind: A Philosophical Introduction, shows how philosophical reflection on biology is crucial for solving long-standing puzzles of the human mind. He is also an editor of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Biodiversity.

Suggestions personnalisées