Keywords
Função
Filosofia da Biologia
Explicação científica
How to Cite
Abstract
Contemporary debate on teleology in biology is linked to the notion of biological function. It is a topic that reaches the very foundations of biology as a science, since from its origins, biology seems to claim the appeal to a purpose as its own explanatory element.
However, its consideration from the philosophy of science has not always been complacent. There are two objections raised from this perspective: the implication of a causality that operates from the effects, and the impossibility of being empirically tested.
But the developments of science since the nineteenth century give support to the philosophers of biology to answer these objections, and allow teleological explanations to be considered as scientific. So, seen from the biological sphere, its negative character has been overcome.
References
Ayala, F. J. (1998). Teleological Explanations versus Teleology. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 20(1), 41-50. https://doi.org/10.2307/23332140
Ayala, F. J., & Arp, R. (2009). Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology (1 edition). Wiley-Blackwell. https://amzn.to/3xVLjDc
Bekoff, M. (1995). Teleology, function, design and the evolution of animal behaviour. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 10(6), 253-255. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-5347(00)89082-5
Buller, D. J. (1999). Function, Selection, and Design. SUNY Press. https://amzn.to/2RFC5dW
Cameron, R. (2004). How to Be a Realist About Sui Generis Teleology Yet Feel at Home in the 21st Century. The Monist, 87(1), 72-95.
Cameron, R. (2010). Aristotle’s Teleology. Philosophy Compass, 5(12), 1096-1106.
Canfield, J. (1964). Teleological Explanation in Biology: A Reply. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 15(60), 327-331. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/XV.60.327-b
Caponi, G. (2013). Teleología Naturalizada (Naturalized Teleology). Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia, 28(1), 97-114.
Chase, M. (2011). Teleology and Final Causation in Aristotle and in Contemporary Science. Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review/Revue canadienne de philosophie, 50(Special Issue 03), 511-536. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0012217311000527
Ginnobili, S. (2011). Función como concepto teórico. Scientiae Studia, 9(4), 847-880. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-31662011000400006
Groff, R., & Greco, J. (2013). Powers and Capacities in Philosophy: The New Aristotelianism. Routledge. https://amzn.to/3tvsW4T
Hempel, Carl G. (1970). Filosofía de la ciencia natural. Alianza. https://amzn.to/3uzGkX0
Hempel, Carl Gustav. (1965). Aspects of Scientific Explanation, and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science. https://amzn.to/3uuXyVl
Hull, D. L., & Ruse, M. (Eds.). (2007). The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521851282 https://amzn.to/3etuxnm
Koutroufinis, S. A. (2013). Teleodynamics: A Neo-Naturalistic conception of Organismic Teleology. En Beyond Mechanism: Putting Life Back Into Biology. Lexington Books. https://amzn.to/2SsnFOs
Lennox, J. (2001). Aristotle’s philosophy of biology: Studies in the origins of life science. Cambridge University Press. https://amzn.to/3bcOSLI
Marcos, A. (1992). Teleologia y Teleonomia En Las Ciencias de la Vida. Diálogo Filosófico, 22, 42-57.
Marcos, A. (2009). Funciones en biología: Una perspectiva aristotélica. Diálogo filosófico, 74, 231-248.
Marcos, A. (2017). Filosofía de la biología—DIA. http://dia.austral.edu.ar/Filosof%C3%ADa_de_la_biolog%C3%ADa
Mayr, E. (1961). Cause and effect in biology. Science, 134(3489), 1501-1506. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.134.3489.1501
Mayr, Ernst. (1988). Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist. Harvard University Press. https://amzn.to/3hhpzMt
Mayr, Ernst. (1992). The Idea of Teleology. Journal of the History of Ideas, 53, 117-135.
McLaughlin, P. (2000). What Functions Explain: Functional Explanation and Self-Reproducing Systems. Cambridge University Press. https://amzn.to/3fiGMm7
Monod, J. (1988). El azar y la necesidad: Ensayo sobre la filosofía natural de la biología moderna. Tusquets Editores. https://amzn.to/2Ssh7iO
Nagel, Ernest. (2006). La estructura de la ciencia. Grupo Planeta (GBS).
Nagel, Ernst. (1977). Teleology Revisited. En Nature’s purposes. Analyses of function and design in biology. The MIT Press. https://amzn.to/3h7SPFj
Perlman, M. (2004). The Modern Philosophical Resurrection of Teleology. The Monist, 87(1), 3-51. https://doi.org/10.5840/monist20048711
Ponce, M. (1981). Las explicaciones teleológicas y el modelo nomológico-deductivo. Dianoia: anuario de Filosofía, 27, 186-206.
Ponce, M. (1984). Teleología y causalidad. Dianoia: anuario de Filosofía, 30, 155-172.
Ponce, M. P. (1978). Explicaciones teleológicas en biología: Panorama Actual y Antecedentes Históricos. Crítica: Revista Hispanoamericana de Filosofía, 10(28), 77-104.
Ribeiro, M. G. L., Larentis, A. L., Caldas, L. A., Garcia, T. C., Terra, L. L., Herbst, M. H., & Almeida, R. V. (2015). On the debate about teleology in biology: The notion of «teleological obstacle». Historia, Ciencias, Saude--Manguinhos, 0, 0. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-59702015005000003
Soto, A. M., & Sonnenschein, C. (2018). Reductionism, Organicism, and Causality in the Biomedical Sciences: A Critique. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 61(4), 489-502.
Toepfer, G. (2012). Teleology and its constitutive role for biology as the science of organized systems in nature. Data-Driven Research in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences. On Nature and Normativity: Normativity, Teleology, and Mechanism in Biological Explanation, 43(1), 113-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.05.010
Torrens, E., & Echeverría, A. B. (2004). El telos aristotélico y su influencia en la biología moderna. 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, 12(21), 161-178.
van Fraassen, B. (1996). La imagen cientifica. https://amzn.to/3oasoAp
Woodger, J. H. (2014). Biological Principles: A Critical Study. Routledge. https://amzn.to/3bdFwPL
Wright, L. (1976). Teleological Explanations: An Etiological Analysis of Goals and Functions. University of California Press. https://amzn.to/3eu0a0f
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Teleological Science