What Functions Explain: Functional Explanation and Self-Reproducing Systems - Couverture rigide

Livre 5 sur 23: Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology

McLaughlin, Peter

 
9780521782333: What Functions Explain: Functional Explanation and Self-Reproducing Systems
Couverture rigide
ISBN 10 : 0521782333 ISBN 13 : 9780521782333
Editeur : Cambridge University Press, 2000

Synopsis

This 2001 book offers an examination of functional explanation as it is used in biology and the social sciences, and focuses on the kinds of philosophical presuppositions that such explanations carry with them. It tackles such questions as: why are some things explained functionally while others are not? What do the functional explanations tell us about how these objects are conceptualized? What do we commit ourselves to when we give and take functional explanations in the life sciences and the social sciences? McLaughlin gives a critical review of the debate on functional explanation in the philosophy of science. He discusses the history of the philosophical question of teleology, and provides a comprehensive review of the post-war literature on functional explanation. What Functions Explain provides a sophisticated and detailed Aristotelian analysis of our concept of natural functions, and offers a positive contribution to the ongoing debate on the topic.

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Présentation de l'éditeur

This 2001 book offers an examination of functional explanation as it is used in biology and the social sciences, and focuses on the kinds of philosophical presuppositions that such explanations carry with them. It tackles such questions as: why are some things explained functionally while others are not? What do the functional explanations tell us about how these objects are conceptualized? What do we commit ourselves to when we give and take functional explanations in the life sciences and the social sciences? McLaughlin gives a critical review of the debate on functional explanation in the philosophy of science. He discusses the history of the philosophical question of teleology, and provides a comprehensive review of the post-war literature on functional explanation. What Functions Explain provides a sophisticated and detailed Aristotelian analysis of our concept of natural functions, and offers a positive contribution to the ongoing debate on the topic.

Revue de presse

'McLaughlin has given us an original and daring account of functional explanation ... [his] fascinating account of organisms as self-maintaining systems is important ...' Acta Biotheoretica

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Cambridge University Press
Date d'édition
2000
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0521782333
ISBN 13 
9780521782333
Reliure
Relié
Nombre de pages
272
Coordonnées du fabricant
Cambridge University Press
https://www.cambridge.org/

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Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780521038850: What Functions Explain: Functional Explanation and Self-Reproducing Systems

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0521038855 ISBN 13 :  9780521038850
Editeur : Cambridge University Press, 2008
Couverture souple