Garson, Justin (2014) Why (a Form of) Function Indeterminacy is Still a Problem for Biomedicine, and How Seeing Functional Items as Components of Mechanisms Can Solve it. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

During the 1990s, many philosophers wrestled with the problem of function indeterminacy. Although interest in the problem has waned, I argue that solving the problem is of value for biomedical research and practice. This is because a solution to the problem is required in order to specify rigorously the conditions under which a given item is “dysfunctional.” In the following I revisit a solution developed originally by Neander (1995), which uses functional analysis to solve the problem. I situate her solution in the framework of mechanistic explanation and suggest two improvements.

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Garson, Justin jgarson@hunter.cuny.edu
Keywords:	Biological function; function indeterminacy; mechanistic explanation; philosophy of biology; philosophy of medicine
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology
Depositing User:	Dr. Justin Garson
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2014 14:46
Last Modified:	24 Jul 2014 14:46
Item ID:	10899
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology
Date:	23 July 2014
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10899

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