Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds: Comparative Philosophical Perspectives

313 Pages·2009·2.74 MB·English

by  Ulrich Krohs

Krohs_case.qxd 1/13/09 7:29 AM Page 1
philosophy/biology F
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The Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology
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Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds
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Comparative Philosophical Perspectives t
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edited by Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes o
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The notion of function is an integral part of thinking in both biology and technology. Biological s

organisms and technical artifacts are both ascribed functionality; yet the concept of function is noto- i
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riously obscure (with problematic issues regarding the normative and the descriptive nature of func-
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tions, for example) and demands philosophical clarification. So too the relationship between
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biological organisms and technical artifacts: although entities of one kind are often described in o
terms of the other—as in the machine analogy for biological organisms or the evolutionary account lo
of technological development—the parallels between the two break down at certain points. This g
volume takes on both issues and examines the relationship between organisms and artifacts from i
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the perspective of functionality. a
Believing that the concept of function is the root of an accurate understanding of biological l
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organisms, technical artifacts, and the relation between the two, the contributors take an integra-
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tive approach, offering philosophical analyses that embrace both biological and technical fields of d
function ascription. They aim at a better understanding not only of the concept of function but also
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of the similarities and differences between organisms and artifacts as they relate to functionality.
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Their ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological comparisons will clarify problems that t
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are central to the philosophies of both biology and technology. f
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Ulrich Krohs teaches philosophy at the University of Hamburg and is a member at the Konrad Lorenz a
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Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Altenberg, Austria. Peter Kroes is Professor of the
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Philosophy of Technology, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.
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The Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology l Functions in Biological
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“This is a gem of a book. Focusing on the concepts of function in biology and technology, these
rich articles open up many questions for further pursuit. The importance of Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds
and Artificial Worlds extends beyond philosophy of biology and philosophy of technology into
issues of general philosophical interest—for example, emergence, real kinds, function, and norma- K
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tivity. Functions in Biological and Artificial Worldsbristles with insights and provocative ideas. Highly o
Comparative Philosophical Perspectives
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recommended.”
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—Lynne Rudder Baker, University of Massachusetts Amherst a
n edited by Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes
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“The roles of design and normativity continue to be a hotly debated topic in that part of the phi-
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losophy of biology concerned with function. This volume differs from most in being the outcome of
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a workshop in which early versions were discussed by the other authors. The result has the welcome
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feel of philosophical discussion rather than of the major players once again defining their territory.” s
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—Robert Cummins, Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy, University of Illinois at Urbana- e
Champaign d
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The MIT Press Cover art: Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of a wing of a flying machine
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
http://mitpress.mit.edu
978-0-262-11321-2
Functions in Biological and Artifi cial Worlds
Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology
Gerd B. Müller, Günter P. Wager, and Werner Callebaut, editors
The Evolution of Cognition, edited by Cecilia Heyes and Ludwig Huber, 2000
Origination of Organismal Form: Beyond the Gene in Development and Evolutionary
Biology, edited by Gerd B. Müller and Stuart A. Newman, 2003
Environment, Development, and Evolution: Toward a Synthesis, edited by Brian K. Hall,
Roy D. Pearson, and Gerd B. Müller, 2004
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, edited by
D. Kimbrough Oller and Ulrike Greibel, 2004
Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natural Complex
Systems, edited by Werner Callebaut and Diego Rasskin-Gutman, 2005
Compositional Evolution: The Impact of Sex, Symbiosis, and Modularity on the Gradu-
alist Framework of Evolution, by Richard A. Watson, 2006
Biological Emergences: Evolution by Natural Experiment, by Robert G. B. Reid, 2007
Modeling Biology: Structure, Behaviors, Evolution, edited by Manfred D. Laubichler
and Gerd B. Müller, 2007
Evolution of Communicative Flexibility: Complexity, Creativity, and Adaptability in
Human and Animal Communication, edited by Kimbrough D. Oller and Ulrike Griebel,
2008
Functions in Biological and Artifi cial Worlds: Comparative Philosophical Perspectives,
edited by Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes, 2009
Functions in Biological and Artifi cial Worlds
Comparative Philosophical Perspectives
edited by
Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means
(including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For
information, please email [email protected] or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press,
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This book was set in 10 on 13 pt Times Roman by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong. Printed and bound
in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Functions in biological and artifi cial worlds : comparative philosophical perspectives / edited by Ulrich Krohs
and Peter Kroes.
p. cm. — (Vienna series in theoretical biology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-11321-2 (hard cover : alk. paper)
1. Biology—Philosophy. 2. Technology—Philosophy. I. Krohs, Ulrich. II. Kroes, Peter, 1950–.
QH331.F897 2009
570.1—dc22
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2008031061
Contents
Series Foreword vii
Preface ix
I INTRODUCTION 1
1 Philosophical Perspectives on Organismic and
Artifactual Functions 3
Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes
II BRIDGING FUNCTIONS OF ORGANISMS AND
ARTIFACTS 13
2 Changing the Mission of Theories of Teleology:
DOs and DON’Ts for Thinking About Function 17
Mark Perlman
3 Biological and Cultural Proper Functions in
Comparative Perspective 37
Beth Preston
4 How Biological, Cultural, and Intended Functions
Combine 51
Françoise Longy
5 On Unifi cation: Taking Technical Functions
as Objective (and Biological Functions as
Subjective) 69
Pieter E. Vermaas
III FUNCTIONS AND NORMATIVITY 89
6 Functions and Norms 93
Peter McLaughlin
Contents vi
7 The Inherent Normativity of Functions in Biology and
Technology 103
Maarten Franssen
8 Conceptual Conservatism: The Case of Normative Functions 127
Paul Sheldon Davies
9 Ecological Restoration: From Functional Descriptions
to Normative Prescriptions 147
Andrew Light
IV FUNCTIONS AND CLASSIFICATION 163
10 Being For: A Philosophical Hypothesis About the Structure
of Functional Knowledge 167
Giacomo Romano
11 Realism and Artifact Kinds 185
Marzia Soavi
12 A Device-Oriented Defi nition of Functions of Artifacts and
Its Perspectives 203
Yoshinobu Kitamura and Riichiro Mizoguchi
V EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES 223
13 The Open Border: Two Cases of Concept Transfer from
Organisms to Artifacts 227
Wybo Houkes
14 Innovation and Population 243
Tim Lewens
15 The Cost of Modularity 259
Ulrich Krohs
16 Technical Artifacts, Engineering Practice, and Emergence 277
Peter Kroes
Contributors 293
Index 295
Series Foreword
Biology is becoming the leading science in this century. As in all other sciences, progress
in biology depends on interactions between empirical research, theory building, and mod-
eling. But whereas the techniques and methods of descriptive and experimental biology
have evolved dramatically in recent years, generating a fl ood of highly detailed empirical
data, the integration of these results into useful theoretical frameworks has lagged behind.
Driven largely by pragmatic and technical considerations, research in biology continues
to be less guided by theory than seems indicated. By promoting the formulation and dis-
cussion of new theoretical concepts in the bio-sciences, this series intends to help fi ll the
gaps in our understanding of some of the major open questions of biology, such as the
origin and organization of organismal form, the relationship between development and
evolution, and the biological bases of cognition and mind.
Theoretical biology has important roots in the experimental biology movement of early-
twentieth-century Vienna. Paul Weiss and Ludwig von Bertalanffy were among the fi rst
to use the term theoretical biology in a modern scientifi c context. In their understanding
the subject was not limited to mathematical formalization, as is often the case today, but
extended to the conceptual problems and foundations of biology. It is this commitment to
a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary integration of theoretical concepts that the present
series intends to emphasize. Today theoretical biology has genetic, developmental, and
evolutionary components, the central connective themes in modern biology, but also
includes relevant aspects of computational biology, semiotics, and cognition research, and
extends to the naturalistic philosophy of sciences.
The “Vienna Series” grew out of theory-oriented workshops, organized by the Konrad
Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI), an international center for
advanced study closely associated with the University of Vienna. The KLI fosters research
projects, workshops, archives, book projects, and the journal Biological Theory, all devoted
viii Series Foreword
to aspects of theoretical biology, with an emphasis on integrating the developmental,
evolutionary, and cognitive sciences. The series editors welcome suggestions for book
projects in these fi elds.
Gerd B. Müller, University of Vienna and KLI
Günter P. Wagner, Yale University and KLI
Werner Callebaut, Hasselt University and KLI
Preface
The notion of function is an integral part of the way of thinking in biology as well as in
technology. Traits and organs of organisms as well as technical artifacts and their compo-
nents have or are attributed functions. The concept of function, however, is notoriously
obscure. The same holds for the relationship between biological organisms and technical
artifacts. This relationship is obscure because there are, on the one hand, many parallels
that never hold completely—evolvability, wholeness, hierarchical and modular organiza-
tion—and, on the other hand, many important differences that may nevertheless have
analogies in the other class—natural selection versus intentionality, propagation versus
(series) production, fi tness versus usefulness. The concept of “function” is obscure because
it seems to imply reference to goals or norms even in cases where intentionality is absent
(such as with biology), to effects where the effect is absent (in the case of dysfunction) or
it is even missing for principle reasons (in the case of a misinformed design of, e.g., a
perpetual motion machine), and because it even may be regarded as unclear whether it is
not merely used metaphorically in its biological sense.
Throwing more light on the sketched topics is a highly challenging task for philosophers
of biology and technology. Scholars have tried for decades to save the notion of
function from obscurantism. This has yielded some highly elaborate explications but
not as yet a consensus about which one is acceptable in which case. Scholars have
less often tried to clarify the relations between artifacts and organisms, though it is
quite common to use one as a model for the other—in both directions—again without
coming up with results that go beyond stating common principles like those already men-
tioned. We decided to combine both issues and to investigate the relationship between
organisms and artifacts exactly with respect to the obscure matter of functionality. The
reason is that we believe that this very issue is the root of many of the diffi culties linked
to a proper understanding of biological organisms, technical artifacts, and the relations
between the two. Consequently the problems should be treated in an integrative way rather
than separated when one aims at a new perspective that sheds light on each of the
problems.