Functions In Biological And Artificial Worlds

Author : Ulrich Krohs
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 026211321X
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds written by Ulrich Krohs and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigations into the relationship between organism and artifacts from the perspective of functionality.

Author : Evelyn Fox KELLER
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674039440
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Making Sense of Life written by Evelyn Fox KELLER and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do biologists want? How will we know when we have 'made sense' of life? Explanations in the biological sciences are provisional and partial, judged by criteria as heterogenous as their subject matter. This text accounts for this diversity.

Author : Jean Gayon
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031312716
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Functions: From Organisms to Artefacts written by Jean Gayon and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-07-25 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Maria Carla Galavotti
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 331904382X
Total Pages : 754 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book New Directions in the Philosophy of Science written by Maria Carla Galavotti and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-06-02 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume sheds light on still unexplored issues and raises new questions in the main areas addressed by the philosophy of science. Bringing together selected papers from three main events, the book presents the most advanced scientific results in the field and suggests innovative lines for further investigation. It explores how discussions on several notions of the philosophy of science can help different scientific disciplines in learning from each other. Finally, it focuses on the relationship between Cambridge and Vienna in twentieth century philosophy of science. The areas examined in the book are: formal methods, the philosophy of the natural and life sciences, the cultural and social sciences, the physical sciences and the history of the philosophy of science.

Author : Justin Garson
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319320203
Total Pages : 119 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Critical Overview of Biological Functions written by Justin Garson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-03-30 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Justin Garson
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108694470
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter written by Justin Garson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-10 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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, Justin Garson presents an innovative new theory, the 'generalized selected effects theory of function', which seamlessly integrates evolutionary and developmental perspectives on biological functions. He develops the implications of the theory for contemporary debates in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of medicine and psychiatry, the philosophy of biology, and biology itself, addressing issues ranging from the nature of mental representation to our understanding of the function of the human genome. Clear, jargon-free, and engagingly written, with accessible examples and explanatory diagrams to illustrate the discussion, his book will be highly valuable for readers across philosophical and scientific disciplines.

Author : Francisco J. Ayala
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1405159987
Total Pages : 440 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology written by Francisco J. Ayala and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-12-07 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of specially commissioned essays puts top scholars head to head to debate the central issues in the lively and fast growing field of philosophy of biology Brings together original essays on ten of the most hotly debated questions in philosophy of biology Lively head-to-head debate format sharply defines the issues and paves the way for further discussion Includes coverage of the new and vital area of evolutionary developmental biology, as well as the concept of a unified species, the role of genes in selection, the differences between micro- and macro-evolution, and much more Each section features an introduction to the topic as well as suggestions for further reading Offers an accessible overview of this fast-growing and dynamic field, whilst also capturing the imagination of professional philosophers and biologists

Author : Peter Kroes
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9400739400
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Technical Artefacts: Creations of Mind and Matter written by Peter Kroes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-05-24 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents an attempt to understand the nature of technical artefacts and the way they come into being. Its primary focus is the kind of technical artefacts designed and produced by modern engineering. In spite of their pervasive influence on human thinking and doing, and therefore on the modern human condition, a philosophical analysis of technical artefacts and engineering design is lacking. Among the questions addressed are: How do technical artefacts fit into the furniture of the universe? In what sense are they different from objects from the natural world, or from the social world? What kind of activity is engineering design and what does it mean to say that technical artefacts are the embodiment of a design? Does it make sense to consider technical artefacts to be morally good or bad by themselves because of the way they influence human life? The book advances the thesis that technical artefacts, conceived of as physical constructions with a technical function, have a dual nature; they are hybrid objects combining physical and intentional features. It proposes a theory of technical functions and technical artefact kinds that does justice to this dual nature, analyses engineering design from the dual nature point of view, and argues that technical artefacts, because of their dual nature, have inherent moral significance.

Author : Rebekka Hufendiek
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429787855
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Social Functions in Philosophy written by Rebekka Hufendiek and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-09 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social functions and functional explanations play a prominent role not only in our everyday reasoning but also in classical as well as contemporary social theory and empirical social research. This volume explores metaphysical, normative, and methodological perspectives on social functions and functional explanations in the social sciences. It aims to push the philosophical debate on social functions forward along new investigative lines by including up-to-date discussions of the metaphysics of social functions, questions concerning the nature of functional explanations within the social domain, and various applications of functionalist theorising. As such, this is one of the first collections to exclusively address a variety of philosophical questions concerning the nature and relevance of social functions.

Author : Eve Mitleton-Kelly
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1785364421
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Handbook of Research Methods in Complexity Science written by Eve Mitleton-Kelly and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive Handbook is aimed at both academic researchers and practitioners in the field of complexity science. The book’s 26 chapters, specially written by leading experts, provide in-depth coverage of research methods based on the sciences of complexity. The research methods presented are illustratively applied to practical cases and are readily accessible to researchers and decision makers alike.