Two Functional Approaches to Anticipation in Biology

Biologists appeal to "functional explanation" as an ubiquitous explanatory strategy for understanding anticipation to environmental demands. However, functional explanation remains one of the most controversial issues in philosophy of biology : two main philosophical approaches address biological functions from disparate views. In this paper, I sketch out how neither etiological approaches nor systemic approaches pay enough attention to functional explanation as used in biological practice. I suggest that a detailed comparison of mechanisms in both accounts may be fruitful in identifying common problems and suitable solutions.