González de Prado Salas, JavierSaborido Alejandro, Cristian2025-12-192025-12-192023-06-09González de Prado, J., Saborido, C., (2025): Biological Purposes Beyond Natural Selection: Self-Regulation as a Source of Teleology1. Erkenn 90, 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00695-20165-0106https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00695-2https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/31232The registered version of this article, first published in “Erkenntnis, 90, (2025) 217–236", is available online at the publisher's website: Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00695-2La versión registrada de este artículo, publicado por primera vez en “Erkenntnis, 90, (2025) 217–236", está disponible en línea en el sitio web del editor: Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00695-2Selected-effects theories provide the most popular account of biological teleology. According to these theories, the purpose of a trait is to do whatever it was selected for. The vast majority of selected-effects theories consider biological teleology to be introduced by natural selection. We want to argue, however, that natural selection is not the only relevant selective process in biology. In particular, our proposal is that biological regulation is a form of biological selection. So, those who accept selected-effects theories should recognize biological regulation as a distinctive source of biological teleology. The purposes derived from biological regulation are of special interest for explaining and predicting the behavior of organisms, given that regulatory mechanisms directly modulate the behavior of the systems they regulate. This explanatory power, added to the fact that regulation is widespread in the biological world, makes the idea that regulation gives rise to its own form of teleology a substantial contribution to the debate on biological teleology.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess7205 Filosofía de la Cienciaartículo1572-8420