Creationism implies that God imbued each category with a unique nature and purpose. These implications closely correspond to what some cognitive psychologists define as an essentialistic and teleological stance towards categories. This study assessed to what extent the belief in God as creator of categories is related to the mappings of these stances to categories in different domains. Israeli ...

Teleological explanations (TEs) account for the existence or properties of an entity in terms of a function: we have hearts because they pump blood, and telephones for communication. While many teleological explanations seem appropriate, others are clearly not warranted--for example, that rain exists for plants to grow. Five experiments explore the theoretical commitments that underlie teleolog...

Human intentional action, including the design and use of artifacts, involves the prior mental representation of the goal (end) and the means to achieve that goal. This representation is part of the efficient cause of the action, and thus can be used to explain both the action and the achievement of the end. This is intentional teleological explanation. More generally, teleological explanation ...

In this paper I defend a teleological explanation of normativity, i. e., I argue that what an organism (or device) is supposed to do is determined by its etiological function. In particular, I present a teleological account of the normativity that arises in learning processes, and I defend it from some objections.

All organisms pursue goals that promote their survival and reproduction. For many species, the small repertoire of basic drive-related goals and behavioural means to achieve them are genetically specified and are triggered by appropriate releasing stimuli. Other species, most notably, but not exclusively, mammals and birds, have much more flexible ways to accomplish their goals, tailoring their...

I assess various proposals for the source of intuition that there is something problematic about contextuality, ultimately concluding contextuality best thought in terms fine-tuning. then argue as with other fine-tuning problems quantum mechanics, this behaviour can be understood a manifestation teleological features physics. Finally discuss several formal mathematical frameworks have been used...