Philosophy of Science· 2026Q1
Proper Functions as Selected Effect Functions of Fixed Traits
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- 2026year
Short summary
This paper argues that proper functions should be restricted to traits that are effectively fixed in a population, proposing fixation as a standard for strong and sustained fitness contributions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Proposes restricting selected effect (SE) proper functions to traits at or near fixation in a population.
- Fixation serves as a principled standard for sufficiently strong and sustained fitness contributions.
- This restriction aims to preserve the theoretical goals of grounding robust teleology and normativity.
- The account better addresses the explanatory challenges to proper functions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract This article proposes restricting selected effect (SE) proper functions to effectively fixed traits—traits at or close to fixation in the population. SE functions, as historical fitness contributions in general, can only ground gradual normative standards at the character-state level, whereas proper functions are further expected to ground a stronger normativity at the character level. Proper function thus requires the trait’s fitness contributions to be sufficiently strong and sustained, and fixation provides a principled standard for such contributions. The restricted account better addresses the explanatory challenge to proper functions while preserving their theoretical goals of grounding robust teleology and normativity.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Philosophy of Science, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: History and Philosophy of Science
History and Philosophy of ScienceArts and Humanities