If we were to point out in a few words what characterises the phenomenon of life, we would
probably mention the amazing plasticity and robustness of living systems, the innumerable …

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 …

The intricate forms of living things bespeak design, and thus a creator: nearly 150 years after
Darwin's theory of natural selection called this argument into question, we still speak of life in …

This book focuses on material culture as a subject of philosophical inquiry and promotes the
philosophical study of material culture by articulating some of the central and difficult issues …

Reasons Why first argues that what philosophers are really after, or at least should be after,
when they seek a theory of explanation, is a theory of answers to why-questions. It then …

The biological functions debate is a perennial topic in the philosophy of science. In the first
full-length account of the nature and importance of biological functions for many years …

The components of living systems strike us as functional-as for the sake of certain ends—
and as endowed with specific norms of performance. The mammalian eye, for example, has …

Formulations of the essential commitment of the etiological theory of functions have varied
significantly, with some individual authors' formulations even varying from one place to …

Teleology is the idea that some things can and should be explained by appeal to their
purpose or goal or function. It is, for example, the idea that one can explain why rocks fall …

The word function has many different meanings in molecular biology. Here we explore the
use of this word (and derivatives like functional) in research papers about de novo gene …