I consider the broad perspectives in biology known as 'functionalism' and 'structuralism', as well as a modern version of functionalism, 'adaptationism'. I do not take a position on which of these perspectives is preferable; my concern is with the prior question, how should they be understood? Adapting van Fraassen's argument for treating materialism as a stance, rather than a factual belief with propositional content, in the first part of the paper I offer an argument for construing functionalism and structuralism as stances also. The argument draws especially on Gould's (The structure of evolutionary theory. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2002) insights concerning functionalism and structuralism, in particular their apparent historical continuity from the pre-Darwinian period through to today. In the second part of the paper I consider Godfrey-Smith's distinction between empirical and explanatory adaptationism, and suggest that while the former is an empirical scientific hypothesis, the latter is closely related to the functionalist stance.
Bas van Fraassen has argued that many philosophical positions should be understood as stances rather than factual beliefs. This paper discusses the vexed question of whether and how such stances can be rationally justified. It argues that stances may be justified pragmatically, in terms of both their epistemic fruits and their coherence with our values, both epistemic and non-epistemic. It also examines van Fraassens version of epistemological voluntarism, which has received considerable attention of late, and shows that it provides a theoretical framework, and approach to epistemology, within which the pragmatic and valuebased forms of justification appropriate to stance choice find a natural home.1 It is potentially self-undermining, rather than just self-undermining, since the thought is that if empiricism is true, then empiricism could be false, not that if empiricism is true then it is false. Thanks to an anonymous referee for drawing my attention to this important distinction.2 See also Bealer (1992) for a similar argument.
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