Geofunctions Blog

These posts explore the idea of planetary functions, and related questions about natural purposes, values, and agents - and examples of places these seem to appear.

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About the Geofunctions Blog

This is a blog about science and philosophy, and about what these two sorts of inquiry have to say about each other as we think about...

“What Is That For?” The Puzzle of Functions and Teleology in Science

When we notice an interesting feature of a living organism we often ask, “What is it for?”. What are the showy stripes of a zebra for?...

The Way Things Ought to Be

We often use the language of function to say something about how things should be, instead of just talking about how things are....

An Evolutionary Solution

What are natural functions? One well-established tradition uses Darwinian evolutionary theory to solve the problem. The function of a...

Philosophy Looks at Functions

Function as "Causal Role"

Previously, we discussed the selected-effects view, which considered selective history, or the reasons for selection in the past, as what...

Philosophy Looks at Functions

Function as "Causal Role" - Three Problems

In our previous post (check it out here): we delved into the causal-role view of function and explored why it's such an intriguing theory...

The Geofunctions Project

Geofunctions Blog

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