Functions Must Be Performed at Appropriate Rates in Appropriate Situations

• Published in: The British journal for the philosophy of science Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 1 - 20
• Main Authors: Garson, Justin, Piccinini, Gualtiero
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01-01-2014; The University of Chicago Press; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Contrafactuals; Digestive disorders; Digestive system; Digestive tract; Ecological competition; Functions; Gag reflex; Liver; Mathematical functions; Medical philosophy; Overdose; Stomach; Theory
• ISSN: 0007-0882; 1464-3537
• DOI: 10.1093/bjps/axs041

We sketch a novel and improved version of Boorse's biostatistical theory of functions. Roughly, our theory maintains that (i) functions are non-negligible contributions to survival or inclusive fitness (when a trait contributes to survival or inclusive fitness); (ii) situations appropriate for the performance of a function are typical situations in which a trait contributes to survival or inclusive fitness; (iii) appropriate rates of functioning are rates that make adequate contributions to survival or inclusive fitness (in situations appropriate for the performance of that function); and (iv) dysfunction is the inability to perform a function at an appropriate rate in appropriate situations. Based on our theory, we sketch solutions to three problems that have afflicted Boorse's theory of function, namely, Kingma's ([2010]) problem of the situation-specificity of functions, the problem of multi-functional traits, and the problem of how to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate rates of functioning.