190 Marzia Soavi
What the general scheme of Darden and Cain does not suffi ciently stress is that the fact
that members with P outnumber members without P is not something that simply follows
from the interaction among members of the relevant population and the environment, but
that it is something that is actually caused by that interaction. That is the reason why many
philosophers of biology believe that the function of P can be used to explain the actual
presence of the character P, or the actual proportion of members with P in the population.
And this is the crucial point.
The copying process in any selection theory is what grants the causal link between the
interaction of P with E and the resultant spreading of the character P within the population.
What about artifacts, though?
11.3.1 Strong and Weak Copy Relation
Most of the artifacts produced, even those produced on the basis of a new original design,
have something in common with previous exemplars of artifacts with the same function
belonging to the same kind. This might suggest that there is a process of copying for arti-
facts that is akin to biological inheritance.
Millikan and Elder defend the thesis that in the cases of both biological entities and
artifacts there are local laws governing a copying process and permitting a strong copy
relation. As far as biological entities are concerned, these local laws are quite well known.
But what about artifacts?
Let us consider a very common kind of artifact, the kind of object normally used
for drinking called glass. Suppose we have the following three types of glasses: glasses
of type I are made of crystal and are square, transparent, and have a long stem; glasses
of type II are made of plastic and are square, transparent, heavy, and have no stem;
glasses of type III are made of glass and are opaque, round, heavy, and have no stem.
According to the theories pertaining to some copying process, glasses of a new type, type
IV, must be copies of glasses of types I, II, or III or a mixture of all three. What
laws govern this copying process? The idea is that the designer of a new type of glass
is infl uenced by previous glass design experiences. The knowledge of glass designs is
passed down through generations of designers. If we know, for instance, that the designer
of type IV is a Western designer who is requested to design an elegant wineglass, and that
no constraints are placed on the price of the fi nal product, then we can conclude easily
that it is likely that glasses of type IV will be made of crystal and will be circular, very
light, and have a long stem. Nonetheless, do we really need to appeal to the occurrence
of a copying process here? Would it not be suffi cient to take into account the rational,
physical, and economical, as well as the social and cultural, constraints placed on the
designer?
Moreover, the process behind the strong copy relation holding among artifacts must
fulfi ll the causal role already described. For biological entities, the fact that there is a