Weber, Marcel (2026) Causal Role Theories. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Even though they may have historical precursors, contemporary philosophers of biology invariably associate causal role theories of functions with the account of Robert Cummins (Cummins 1975). This account constituted a radical departure from mainstream thought about biological functions, in at least two ways: First, unlike most previous accounts, Cummins did not take functional ascriptions to explain the presence of the function bearer in an organism. Thus, on his account, to affirm that the heart’s function is to pump blood says nothing about why some organisms have hearts. Second, Cummins’s account deliberately makes functions relative to the explanatory interests of the investigation. In other words, the heart has the function of pumping blood only if the goal of the investigation of hearts is to explain why the heart’s containing system – the circulatory system – has the capacity to transport oxygen, other molecules and blood cells through the body. If the goal of the investigation were to understand the sound production of blood circulation, then the heart’s function would be to make thumping noises. Many critics have taken issue in particular with the latter implication, but there are other difficulties, as we shall see. However, the theory also has supporters, mainly due to the fact that the account is congenial to recent thinking about mechanistic explanation (see Section 4).
In the following Section, I will attempt a reconstruction of Cummins’s original account. Then, in Section 3, I will discuss some standard objections. In Section 4, I will discuss some modifications that have been proposed to Cummins’s version of the causal role theory. Finally, in Sections 5 and 6 I will discuss some developments of the theory that attempt to show how adopting a version of Cummin’s account need not prevent us from considering biological functions as objective features of organisms. The key to this will be a somewhat different understanding of the interest-relativity of functions.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Weber, Marcel marcel.weber@unige.ch 0000-0003-2142-5043
Additional Information:	Forthcoming in: Philosophy of Biological Functions, edited by Zdenka Brzović, Justin Garson and Predrag Šustar. London: Routledge
Keywords:	Biological functions, teleology, causal role, mechanism, hierarchy, explanation, normativity, interest-relativity, objectivity, coherence
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology General Issues > Explanation
Depositing User:	Prof. Marcel Weber
Date Deposited:	05 Jun 2026 19:11
Last Modified:	05 Jun 2026 19:11
Item ID:	29937
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology General Issues > Explanation
Date:	2026
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29937

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