Nature's Purposes: Analyses of Function and Design in Biology

Within the natural sciences, only biologists take seriously teleological statements about design, purpose and adaptive function. Some biologists claim that to understand the complex morphological and behavioural traits of organisms we must say what they are for, which is to give a teleological explanation of why organisms have them. Others argue that the theory of natural selection, in providing statistical explanations for the same phenomena, obviates any need for teleological thinking. If teleology cannot be eliminated from biology, it raises fundamental questions about the nature of biological explanation and about the relationship of biology to the rest of science.