In what sense does 'nothing make sense except in the light of evolution'?

Acta Biotheoretica

Volumn 57, Issue 1-2, 2009, Pages 11-32

  Griffiths, Paul Edmund ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Dobzhansky; Function; Millikan; Teleology

Indexed keywords

ADAPTATION; ANATOMY; BIOLOGY; EVOLUTION; PHYSIOLOGY;

ARTICLE; EVOLUTION; THEORETICAL MODEL;

EVOLUTION; MODELS, THEORETICAL;

EID: 67651181109     PISSN: 00015342     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10441-008-9054-9     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. R Amundson GV Lauder 1994 Function without purpose: the uses of causal role function in evolutionary biology Biol Philos 9 4 443 470 10.1007/BF00850375
2. J Bigelow R Pargetter 1987 Functions J Philos 54 181 196 10.2307/2027157
3. WJ Bock G von Wahlert 1965 Adaptation and the form-function complex Evolution 19 269 299 10.2307/2406439
4. RN Brandon 1981 Biological teleology: questions and explanations Stud Hist Philos Sci 12 91 105 10.1016/0039-3681(81)90015-7
5. I Brigandt 2002 Homology and the origin of correspondence Biol Philos 17 389 407 10.1023/A:1020196124917
6. I Brigandt 2003 Homology in comparative, molecular and evolutionary biology J Exp Zool (Mol Dev Evol) 299B 9 17 10.1002/jez.b.36
7. Burian RM (2005) The epistemology of development, evolution, and genetics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
8. J Canfield 1964 Teleological explanation in biology Br J Philos Sci 14 285 295 10.1093/bjps/XIV.56.285
9. W Christensen 1996 A complex systems theory of teleology Biol Philos 11 3 301 319 10.1007/BF00128784
10. MN Clout GP Elliott BC Robertson 2002 Effects of supplementary feeding on the offspring sex ratio of kakapo: a dilemma for the conservation of a polygynous parrot Biol Conserv 107 1 13 18 10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00267-1
11. R Cummins 1975 Functional analysis J Philos 72 741 765 10.2307/2024640
12. Cummins R (1983) The nature of psychological explanation. Bradford/MIT, Cambridge
13. Davies PS (2001) Norms of nature: naturalism and the nature of functions. MIT Press, Cambridge
14. Dawkins MS, Halliday TR, Dawkins R (eds) (1991) The Tinbergen legacy. Chapman and Hall, London
15. C Delancey 2006 Ontology and teleofunctions Synthese 150 69 98 10.1007/s11229-004-6257-8
16. J Diamond 1982 Big-bang reproduction and ageing in male marsupial mice Nature 298 5870 115 116 10.1038/298115a0
17. Diamond J (1997) Guns, germs, and steel: the fates of human societies. W. W. Norton & Company, New York
18. T Dobzhansky 1973 Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution Am Biol Teach 35 125 129
19. Dupré J (ed) (1987) The latest on the best: essays on optimality & evolution. MIT Press, Cambridge
20. BB Edin 2008 Assigning biological functions: making sense of causal chains Synthese 161 2 203 218 10.1007/s11229-007-9160-2
21. Gasking EB (1967) Investigations into generation, 1651-1828. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore
22. Gintis H (2007) Book Review: David J. Buller. 2005. Adapting minds: evolutionary psychology and the persistent quest for human nature. J Bioeconomics 9(2):191-200. doi: 10.1007/s10818-007-9023-4
23. P Godfrey-Smith 1993 Functions: consensus without unity Pac Philos Q 74 196 208
24. P Godfrey-Smith 1994 A modern history theory of functions Noûs 28 344 362
25. P Godfrey-Smith 2000
26. SJ Gould R Lewontin 1978 The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 205 581 598 (Pubitemid 10248042)
27. JA Gould ES Vrba 1982 Exaptation-a missing term in science of form Paleobiology 8 4 15 (Pubitemid 13281606)
28. PE Griffiths 1992
29. PE Griffiths 1993 Functional analysis & proper function Br J Philos Sci 44 409 422 10.1093/bjps/44.3.409
30. PE Griffiths 2006 Function, homology and character individuation Philos Sci 73 1 1 25 10.1086/510172
31. PE Griffiths 2007 The phenomena of homology Biol Philos 22 5 643 658 10.1007/s10539-007-9090-x
32. PE Griffiths 2007
33. Lewens T (2004) Organisms and artifacts: design in nature and elsewhere. MIT Press, Cambridge
34. KZ Lorenz 1966 Evolution of ritualisation in the biological and cultural spheres Philos Trans R Soc Lond 251 273 284 10.1098/rstb.1966.0011
35. E Mayr 1961 Cause and effect in biology Science 131 1501 1506 10.1126/science.134.3489.1501
36. McLaughlin P (2001) What functions explain: functional explanation and self-reproducing systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
37. Millikan RG (1984) Language, thought and other biological categories. MIT Press, Cambridge
38. RG Millikan 2002
39. HDM Moore M Martin TR Birkhead 1999 No evidence for killer sperm or other selective interactions between human spermatozoa in ejaculates of different males in vitro Proc R Soc Biol Sci 266 1436 2343 2350 10.1098/rspb.1999.0929 (Pubitemid 30019033)
40. A Nahvi N Sudarsan MS Ebert X Zou KL Brown RR Breaker 2002 Genetic control by a metabolite binding mRNA Chem Biol 9 9 1043 1049 10.1016/S1074-5521(02)00224-7
41. K Neander 1991 Functions as selected effects: the conceptual analyst's defense Philos Sci 58 168 184 10.1086/289610
42. K Neander 1991 The teleological notion of "function" Australas J Philos 69 4 454 468 10.1080/00048409112344881
43. K Neander 2002
44. Orzack S, Sober E (eds) (2001) Optimality and adaptation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
45. Papineau D (1987) Reality and representation. Blackwell, New York
46. Pigliucci M, Kaplan JM (2006) Making sense of evolution: the conceptual foundations of evolutionary theory. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
47. CS Pittendrigh 1958
48. A Rosenberg 2001
49. Rosenberg A (2006) Darwinian reductionism or, how to stop worrying and love molecular biology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
50. G Schlosser 1998 Self re-production and functionality: a systems-theoretical approach to teleological explanation Synthese 116 303 354 10.1023/A:1005073307193 (Pubitemid 128752535)
51. Sober E (1984) The nature of selection: evolutionary theory in philosophical focus. MIT Press, Cambridge
52. N Tinbergen 1963 On the aims and methods of ethology Z Tierpsychol 20 410 433
53. Weber M (2005) Philosophy of experimental biology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
54. WC Wimsatt 1972 Teleology and the logical structure of function statements Stud Hist Philos Sci 3 1 80 10.1016/0039-3681(72)90014-3
55. Wimsatt WC (2007) Re-engineering philosophy for limited beings: piecewise approximations to reality. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
56. RG Winther 2006 Parts and theories in compositional biology Biol Philos 21 4 471 499 10.1007/s10539-005-9002-x
57. A Wouters 1995 Viability explanation Biol Philos 10 4 435 457 10.1007/BF00857593
58. A Wouters 2003 Four notions of biological function Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci 34 633 668 10.1016/j.shpsc.2003.09.006
59. A Wouters 2005
60. A Wouters 2005 The functions debate in philosophy Acta Biotheor 53 123 151 10.1007/s10441-005-5353-6
61. A Wouters 2007 Design explanation: determining the constraints on what can be alive Erkenntnis 67 1 65 80 10.1007/s10670-007-9045-2