La heterogeneidad de criterios para la atribución funcional. Estudio de un caso

• Olmos, Andrea ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Buenos Aires

     Universidad de Buenos Aires

     Argentina

     
• Localización: Ludus vitalis: revista de filosofía de las ciencias de la vida = journal of philosophy of life sciences = revue de philosophie des sciences de la vie, ISSN 1133-5165, Vol. 26, Nº. 50, 2018 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Número conmemorativo de los 25 años de la revista), págs. 51-76
• Idioma: español
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• Resumen

  • HETEROGENEITY OF CRITERIA USED FOR FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTION. A CASE STUDY.The philosophical discussion around the concept of function led to the formulation of various definitions in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions. In this paper, I evaluate the adequacy of the most prominent philosophical proposals based on the evidence used for the attribution of functions in a case study of behavioral biology, and show how each proposed definition only partially accounts for the evidence appealed in this case. Considering these results, I suggest that the heterogeneity of criteria used for functional attribution could be symptomatic for the need to treat ‘function’ as a theoretical concept, based on the criteria of determination, and not on a definition in terms of necessary or sufficient conditions.