Ernst Mayr's 'ultimate/proximate' distinction reconsidered and reconstructed

Biology and Philosophy 18 (4):553-565 (2003)
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Abstract

It's been 41 years since the publication of Ernst Mayr's Cause and Effect in Biology wherein Mayr most clearly develops his version of the influential distinction between ultimate and proximate causes in biology. In critically assessing Mayr's essay I uncover false statements and red-herrings about biological explanation. Nevertheless, I argue to uphold an analogue of the ultimate/proximate distinction as it refers to two different kinds of explanations, one dynamical the other statistical.

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2004

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10.1023/a:1025565119032

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André Ariew
University of Missouri, Columbia

Citations of this work

Four Pillars of Statisticalism.Denis M. Walsh, André Ariew & Mohan Matthen - 2017 - Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology 9 (1):1-18.
Agential Teleosemantics.Tiago Rama - 2022 - Dissertation, Autonomous University of Barcelona

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References found in this work

Philosophy of Biology.Elliott Sober - 1993 - Boulder, Colo.: Routledge.
Functions.John Bigelow & Robert Pargetter - 1987 - Journal of Philosophy 84 (4):181-196.
The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus.Elliott Sober - 1987 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (3):397-399.

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