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A Causal-Role Account of Ecological Role Functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2022

Katie H. Morrow Open the ORCID record for Katie H. Morrow [Opens in a new window]
Katie H. Morrow*
Affiliation:
Philosophy Department, Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
*
Email: katherine.morrow@uni-bielefeld.de
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Abstract

I develop an account of ecological role functions—the functions of species within ecosystems—that is informed by alternative regime phenomena in ecology. My account is a causal-role theory that includes a counterfactual sensitivity condition. The account tracks and explains a distinction ecologists make between functions and various activities that are not functions. My counterfactual sensitivity condition resolves the liberality problem often attributed to causal-role theories of function while also illuminating the explanatory centrality of role functions within ecology.

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Article
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 433 - 453
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© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association

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