Re: Could you give me your analysis of this?

[Tim Gwinn <***>]

Rehashing the topic of "closed to efficient causation" ........

 

 

The entire relevant paragraph from Life Itself:

"The answer we propose is now this: a material system is an organism if, and only if, it is closed to efficient causation. That is, if f is any component of such a system, the question "why f?" has an answer within the system, which corresponds to the category of efficient cause of f. In terms of the graphs we have been using, every component must (1) initiate a red arrow, since it is a component, and (2) terminate a green arrow. We claim that everything else about organisms, everything studied in biology by biologists, and much else besides, arises from and devolves upon this property." [p. 244, ital orig.]

 

Rosen clearly spells out what "closed to efficient causation" means in the second sentence:

"That is, if f is any component of such a system, the question "why f?" has an answer within the system, which corresponds to the category of efficient cause of f."

"Closed to efficient causation", then, specifies that any component (i.e., a "particle of function" or "functional unit" (see sec. 5F)) will have an  entailment of efficient cause from within the system. What this sentence does appear to specify is a minimum criteria for the organization of the entailment structures of functional components in an organism. By the use of the 'an', he certainly does not seem to assert that these components cannot also have additional entailments of efficient cause (which may arise from outside the system). 

 

 "Closed", then, does not mean "closed off". Instead, it means that one can chase through a relational organizational diagram of the components in an organism and one will be able to trace a closed loop of efficient cause entailments through the diagram.

 

Now, either there is such a closed loop one can trace or there isn't.  I do not think it is meaningful to say that one could trace a "relatively closed" loop. If there isn't such a loop, then Rosen's thesis about organisms is in great jeopardy. If there is, then this affirms his thesis.

 

Regards,

Tim