Abstract

NINO EL-HANI, CHARBEL  and  FREITAS NUNES-NETO, NEI. FUNCTION IN BIOLOGY: ETIOLOGICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVES. Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2009, vol.14, suppl.1, pp.111-132. ISSN 0120-548X.

In this paper, we argue for a taxonomy of approaches to function based on different epistemological perspectives assumed with regard to the treatment of this central concept in the life sciences. We distinguish between etiological and organizational perspectives on function, analyzing distinct theories: Wright's selectionist etiological approach and Godfrey-Smith's modern history theory of functions, in the case of the etiological perspective; and Cummins' functional analysis and Collier's interactivist approach to function, among organizational accounts. We explain differences and similarities between these theories and the broader perspectives on function, arguing for a particular way of understanding the consensus without unity in debates about function. While explaining the accounts of function, we also deal with the relationship between this concept and other important biological concepts, such as adaptation, selection, complexity, and autonomy. We also advance an argument for the limits and prospects of the explanatory role of function in evolution. By arguing that changes in functionality are always grounded on changes in systems' organization, we show that function can never explain the origins of traits. Nevertheless, it can explain the spread of traits in populations, but only when we are dealing with functionally novel traits. Finally, we stress that organizational accounts of function are needed to understand how new functions appear by means of changes in systems' organization.

Keywords : Etiology; Explanation; Function; Organization; Teleology.

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