Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
Several analyses of biological function for example, those of Williams, Millikan, and Kitcher identify an item's function with what natural selection designed it to do. Allen and Bekoff have disagreed, claiming that natural design is a special case of biological function. I argue that Allen and Bekoff's account of natural design is unduly restrictive and that it fails to mark a principled distinction between function and design. I distinguish two approaches to the phenomenon of natural design the "trait-centered" approach of Allen and Bekoff and the "organism-centered" approach and defend the latter. When design is understood according to the organism-centered approach, biological function and design are co-instantiated phenomena.
Publication Date
1-1-2002
Recommended Citation
David J. Buller. “Function and Design Revisited.” In Functions: New Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology (pp. 222-243). Eds. André Ariew, Robert Cummins, and Mark Perlman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Original Citation
David J. Buller. “Function and Design Revisited.” In Functions: New Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology (pp. 222-243). Eds. André Ariew, Robert Cummins, and Mark Perlman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Department
Department of Philosophy
Legacy Department
Department of Philosophy
Language
eng
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Comments
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