edited by Rodolfo Giorgi, Danilo Manca.

During the last century, most philosophers of science have tried to expunge teleological explanations from the fields of epistemology: based on an anti-metaphysical attitude, they hold purposes and goals to be of religious and spiritual nature, thereby obstacles to any effective comprehension of biological processes. Accordingly, teleological categories have been abandoned in many ways in favor of mechanical causes and non-teleological processes: since Darwin demonstrated that no teleology is required in order to explain the natural world, causal explanations became the only tools to investigate natural processes [read more]