Functions: New Essays in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology - Softcover

...provide[s] excellent introductions to the major problems and positions in the field. (Jonathan M. Kaplan, Philosophical Psychology)

... the book contains many interesting arguments, ideas and insights that could be employed and should be discussed by biologists, psychologists and philsophers interested in the philosophical problems of real science. (Acta Biotheoretica)

a richly varied collection of essays which ... provides the reader with the opportunity for a sustained examination of the central issues concerning functions and their role in biology and psychology. (Graham Macdonald, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews)

Fifteen leading contributors to philosophy of psychology and philosophy of biology present new essays on functions, specially written for this volume. In explaining aspects of the natural world, including the aspects of mind, scientists have frequently used the concept of function. But what are functions? These essays illuminate this crucial but problematic concept, and will be fascinating reading for philosophers and scientists alike.