A relic of design: against proper functions in biology

• DOI: 10.1007/s10539-022-09856-z
• Publication Date: 2022-06-25T07:12:47Z
• Authors: Emanuele Ratti; Pierre-Luc Germain
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 1207 History and Philosophy of Science; 0303 health sciences; Design; Selected-effect; design; evolutionary biology; 1100 General Agricultural and Biological Sciences; 100; 10124 Institute of Molecular Life Sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Causal role; selected effect; 570 Life sciences; biology; Function; 1211 Philosophy; biological function; ENCODE

AbstractThe notion of biological function is fraught with difficulties—intrinsically and irremediably so, we argue. The physiological practice of functional ascription originates from a time when organisms were thought to be designed and remained largely unchanged since. In a secularized worldview, this creates a paradox which accounts of functions as selected effect attempt to resolve. This attempt, we argue, misses its target in physiology and it brings problems of its own. Instead, we propose that a better solution to the conundrum of biological functions is to abandon the notion altogether, a prospect not only less daunting than it appears, but arguably the natural continuation of the naturalisation of biology.