NDLI: Selected effects and causal role functions in the brain: the case for an etiological approach to neuroscience

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Garson, Justin
Copyright Year	2011
Abstract	Despite the voluminous literature on biological functions produced over the last 40 years, few philosophers have studied the concept of function as it is used in neuroscience. Recently, Craver (forthcoming; also see Craver 2001) defended the causal role theory against the selected effects theory as the most appropriate theory of function for neuroscience. The following argues that though neuroscientists do study causal role functions, the scope of that theory is not as universal as claimed. Despite the strong prima facie superiority of the causal role theory, the selected effects theory (when properly developed) can handle many cases from neuroscience with equal facility. It argues this by presenting a new theory of function that generalizes the notion of a ‘selection process’ to include processes such as neural selection, antibody selection, and some forms of learning—that is, to include structures that have been differentially retained as well as those that have been differentially reproduced. This view, called the generalized selected effects theory of function, will be defended from criticism and distinguished from similar views in the literature.
Starting Page	547
Ending Page	565
Page Count	19
File Format	PDF
ISSN	01693867
Journal	Biology & Philosophy
Volume Number	26
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	15728404
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2011-03-18
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Teleology Function Neuroscience Mechanism Selection Neural Darwinism Evolutionary Biology Philosophy of Biology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy Agricultural and Biological Sciences History and Philosophy of Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Revisiting recent etiological theories of functions

Levels of selection and the formal Darwinism project

Junk or functional DNA? ENCODE and the function controversy

Teleosemantics Without Natural Selection

Beyond Generalized Darwinism. I. Evolutionary Economics from the Perspective of Naturalistic Philosophy of Biology

The formal darwinism project in outline

Upper-directed systems: a new approach to teleology in biology

The formal darwinism project in outline: response to commentaries

Adaptation, fitness and the selection-optimality links

Selected effects and causal role functions in the brain: the case for an etiological approach to neuroscience

Similar Documents

Revisiting recent etiological theories of functions

Levels of selection and the formal Darwinism project

Junk or functional DNA? ENCODE and the function controversy

Teleosemantics Without Natural Selection

Beyond Generalized Darwinism. I. Evolutionary Economics from the Perspective of Naturalistic Philosophy of Biology

The formal darwinism project in outline

Upper-directed systems: a new approach to teleology in biology

The formal darwinism project in outline: response to commentaries

Adaptation, fitness and the selection-optimality links

Selected effects and causal role functions in the brain: the case for an etiological approach to neuroscience