Babcock, Gunnar and McShea, Daniel W. (2023) Goal directedness and the field concept. [Preprint]

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Abstract

A long-standing problem in understanding goal-directed systems has been the insufficiency of mechanistic explanations to make sense of them. This paper offers a solution to this problem. It begins by observing the limitations of mechanistic decompositions when it comes to understanding physical fields. We argue that introducing the field concept, as it has been developed in field theory, alongside mechanisms is able to provide an account of goal directedness in the sciences.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Babcock, Gunnar gunnar.babcock@duke.edu 0000-0001-6197-7921 McShea, Daniel W. dmcshea@duke.edu
Keywords:	teleology, mechanism, goal directed, field
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology
Depositing User:	Dr. Gunnar Babcock
Date Deposited:	01 Oct 2023 14:03
Last Modified:	01 Oct 2023 14:03
Item ID:	22607
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology
Date:	2023
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22607

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