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Article ID: CBB213780539

Freedom and purpose in biology (2016)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 58
Pages: 64-72
Publication date: 2016
Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.002

URI: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848615001752

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All seemingly teleological systems share a common hierarchical structure. They consist of a small entity moving or changing within a larger field that directs it from above (what I call “upper direction”). This is true for organisms seeking some external resource, for the organized behavior of cells and other parts in organismal development, and for lineages evolving by natural selection. In all cases, the lower-level entity is partly “free,” tending to wander under the influence of purely local forces, and partly directed by a larger enveloping field. The persistent and plastic behavior that characterizes goal-directedness arises, I argue, at intermediate levels of freedom and upper direction, when the two are in a delicate balance. I tentatively extend the argument to human teleology (wants, purposes).

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