- Title Pages
- Series Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Philosophical Perspectives on Organismic and Artifactual Functions
- II Bridging Functions of Organisms and Artifacts
- 2 Changing the Mission of Theories of Teleology: DOs and DON’Ts for Thinking About Function
- 3 Biological and Cultural Proper Functions in Comparative Perspective
- 4 How Biological, Cultural, and Intended Functions Combine
- 5 On Unification: Taking Technical Functions as Objective (and Biological Functions as Subjective)
- III Functions and Normativity
- 6 Functions and Norms
- 7 The Inherent Normativity of Functions in Biology and Technology
- 8 Conceptual Conservatism: The Case of Normative Functions
- 9 Ecological Restoration: From Functional Descriptions to Normative Prescriptions
- IV Functions and Classification
- 10 Being For: A Philosophical Hypothesis About the Structure of Functional Knowledge
- 11 Realism and Artifact Kinds
- 12 A Device-Oriented Definition of Functions of Artifacts and Its Perspectives
- V Evolutionary Perspectives
- 13 The Open Border: Two Cases of Concept Transfer from Organisms to Artifacts
- 14 Innovation and Population
- 15 The Cost of Modularity
- 16 Technical Artifacts, Engineering Practice, and Emergence
- Contributors
- Index
Realism and Artifact Kinds
Realism and Artifact Kinds
- Chapter:
- (p.185) 11 Realism and Artifact Kinds
- Source:
- Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds
- Author(s):
Marzia Soavi
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
This chapter describes a strategy for a defense of real kinds for artifacts by individuating narrow functional kinds on the basis of a characterization of a function in terms of the triple: input-output-relations, system of interaction, and structure. It shows that everyday functional classification terms do not correspond to such narrow functions and therefore do not individuate real kinds. Additionally, it analyzes the relation between artifact functions and artifact kinds in an attempt to establish reconciliation between the functional characterization of artifact kinds and realism. This chapter suggests that the present proposal is neither meant to defend the reality of artifact kinds as ordinarily intended nor to reject it.
Keywords: real kinds, artifact kinds, artifact functions, realism, functional classification
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- Title Pages
- Series Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Philosophical Perspectives on Organismic and Artifactual Functions
- II Bridging Functions of Organisms and Artifacts
- 2 Changing the Mission of Theories of Teleology: DOs and DON’Ts for Thinking About Function
- 3 Biological and Cultural Proper Functions in Comparative Perspective
- 4 How Biological, Cultural, and Intended Functions Combine
- 5 On Unification: Taking Technical Functions as Objective (and Biological Functions as Subjective)
- III Functions and Normativity
- 6 Functions and Norms
- 7 The Inherent Normativity of Functions in Biology and Technology
- 8 Conceptual Conservatism: The Case of Normative Functions
- 9 Ecological Restoration: From Functional Descriptions to Normative Prescriptions
- IV Functions and Classification
- 10 Being For: A Philosophical Hypothesis About the Structure of Functional Knowledge
- 11 Realism and Artifact Kinds
- 12 A Device-Oriented Definition of Functions of Artifacts and Its Perspectives
- V Evolutionary Perspectives
- 13 The Open Border: Two Cases of Concept Transfer from Organisms to Artifacts
- 14 Innovation and Population
- 15 The Cost of Modularity
- 16 Technical Artifacts, Engineering Practice, and Emergence
- Contributors
- Index
