Organisms and Artifacts Design in Nature and Elsewhere

Name: Organisms and Artifacts Design in Nature and Elsewhere
Price: 8.33 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780262621991

ISBN-10: 0262621991

ISBN-13: 9780262621991

Edition: 2005

Authors: Tim Lewens

List price: $4.75

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Description:

In Organisms and Artifacts, Tim Lewens investigates the analogical use of the language of design in evolutionary biology. Uniquely among the natural sciences, biology uses descriptive and explanatory terms more suited to artifacts than organisms. When biologists discuss, for example, the purpose of the panda's thumb and look for functional explanations for organic traits, they borrow from a vocabulary of intelligent design that Darwin's findings could have made irrelevant over a hundred years ago. Lewens argues that examining the analogy between the processes of evolution and the processes by which artifacts are created -- looking at organisms as analogical artifacts -- sheds light on…

Book details

List price: $4.75
Copyright year: 2005
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication date: 8/12/2005
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 196
Size: 6.25" wide x 9.25" long x 0.75" tall
Weight: 0.682
Language: English



Preface



Meaning and the Means to an Understanding of Ends



Why Is an Eye?



Adaptationism and Engineering



On Five "-Isms"



Function, Selection, and Explanation



Deflating Function



Artifacts and Organisms


References