Biology and Philosophy 10 (4):435-457 (1995)
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| Abstract |
This article deals with a type of functional explanation, viability explanation, that has been overlooked in recent philosophy of science. Viability explanations relate traits of organisms and their environments in terms of what an individual needs to survive and reproduce. I show that viability explanations are neither causal nor historical and that, therefore, they should be accounted for as a distinct type of explanation.
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| Keywords | functional explanation functional counterfactual proximate / ultimate design explanation explanation in ethology explanation in functional morphology explanation in evolutionary biology viability explanation |
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| DOI | 10.1007/bf00857593 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation.Ernest Nagel - 1961 - Harcourt, Brace & World.
Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories.Ruth Garrett Millikan - 1984 - Behaviorism 14 (1):51-56.
Aspects of Scientific Explanation.Carl Hempel - 1965 - In Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Free Press. pp. 504.
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Citations of this work BETA
Marsupial Lions and Methodological Omnivory: Function, Success and Reconstruction in Paleobiology.Adrian Currie - 2015 - Biology and Philosophy 30 (2):187-209.
Function, Homology and Character Individuation.Paul E. Griffiths - 2006 - Philosophy of Science 73 (1):1-25.
Four Notions of Biological Function.Arno G. Wouters - 2003 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 34 (4):633-668.
Four Notions of Biological Function.Arno G. Wouters - 2002 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 34 (4):633-668.
View all 16 citations / Add more citations
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