Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 5, 2024

Evolutionary Theory and the Telos of Life

(Abstract)

Lu Qiaoying

Since the widespread acceptance of Darwin’s theory of evolution, life’s adaptive telos has been considered explicable through the mechanical process of natural selection. Based on this insight, the received view of biological function emphasizes that the selected effects of traits can provide etiological explanations for the existence of those traits, thereby laying the foundation for functional normativity in biology. From functional normativity, mainstream naturalistic philosophy such as teleosemantics endeavors to naturalize normative standards in various fields. However, comparison to the explanations provided by current evolutionary biology reveals that etiological functional explanations lack genuine explanatory power, indicating the dissolution of biological functional normativity. The endorsement of the latter is rooted in the analogy between artifacts and living organisms, and only by rejecting this analogy can one break free from traditional teleology. Consequently, naturalistic philosophy must abandon the role of functional normativity as a bridge and explore alternative natural foundations for normative considerations.