Natural selection comes in degrees. Some biological traits are subjected to stronger selective force than others, selection on particular traits waxes and wanes over time, and some groups can only undergo an attenuated kind of selective process. This has downstream consequences for any notions that are standardly treated as binary but depend on natural selection. For instance, the proper function of a biological structure can be defined as what caused that (type of) structure to be retained by natural selection in the past. We usually think of proper functions in binary terms: storing bile is a function of the gall bladder, but making stones is not . However, if functions arise through natural selection, and natural selection comes in degrees, then a binary approach to proper functions is in tension with the biological facts. In order to resolve this tension, we need to revise our standard accounts of proper function. In particular, we may have to seriously consider the possibility that functions themselves come in degrees, in spite of the ramifications this will have for the way we speak about functions and related concepts such as dysfunction, disease, and teleosemantic content.

中文翻译：

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适当的功能是否有度数？

自然选择有度数。一些生物性状受到比其他生物性状更强的选择力，对特定性状的选择会随着时间的推移而有增有减，有些群体只能经历一种减弱的选择过程。这对任何标准上被视为二元但依赖于自然选择的概念都有下游影响。例如，生物结构的适当功能可以定义为过去自然选择保留该结构（类型）的原因。我们通常用二元术语来考虑适当的功能：储存胆汁是胆囊的功能，但制造结石不是。然而，如果功能是通过自然选择产生的，而自然选择是有度数的，那么对适当功能的二元方法与生物学事实相矛盾。为了解决这种紧张关系，我们需要修改我们对适当功能的标准解释。特别是，我们可能必须认真考虑函数本身的可能性，尽管这会对我们谈论函数和相关概念（如功能障碍、疾病和远程语义内容）的方式产生影响。