The components of living systems strike us as functional-as for the sake                  of certain ends--and as endowed with specific norms of performance. The mammalian                  eye, for example, has the function of perceiving and processing light, and                  possession of this property tempts us to claim that token eyes are supposed to                  perceive and process light. That is, we tend to evaluate the performance of token                  eyes against the norm described in the attributed functional property. Hence the                  norms of nature.What, then, are the norms of nature? Whence do they arise? Out of                  what natural properties or relations are they constituted? In Norms of Nature, Paul                  Sheldon Davies argues against the prevailing view that natural norms are constituted                  out of some form of historical success--usually success in natural selection. He                  defends the view that functions are nothing more than effects that contribute to the                  exercise of some more general systemic capacity. Natural functions exist insofar as                  the components of natural systems contribute to the exercise of systemic capacities.                  This is so irrespective of the system's history. Even if the mammalian eye had never                  been selected for, it would have the function of perceiving and processing light,                  because those are the effects that contribute to the exercise of the visual system.                  The systemic approach to conceptualizing natural norms, claims Davies, is superior                  to the historical approach in several important ways. Especially significant is that                  it helps us understand how the attribution of functions within the life sciences                  coheres with the methods and ontology of the natural sciences generally.

Norms of Nature: Naturalism and the Nature of Functions PDF

The list of books you might like