{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T00:49:01Z","timestamp":1787014141214,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,6]],"date-time":"2025-03-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741219200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":5,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Eur J of Neuroscience"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Notions of function and dysfunction are fundamental for neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry but remain contentious. We propose that some of these controversies arise from \u2018tacit creationism\u2019, which disavows a designer but nonetheless views bodies and brain\u2010minds as if they are products of conscious planning with discrete parts that serve specific functions. Many philosophers agree that \u2018failure to perform a normal function\u2019 is fundamental to the concepts of physical disease and mental disorder. However, unlike machines and computers, no blueprint defines a single normal phenotype for bodies and brain\u2010minds. Instead, varying genes interact with one another and environments to create individuals who vary in ways that give advantages and disadvantages that depend on the environment. Many clinically relevant variations influence the gain in control systems for adaptive responses such as anxiety and low mood, making it difficult to draw a bright line between normal and excessive activation of distressing emotions in a particular context. Literal interpretations of the metaphor of body as machine or brain\u2010mind as computer encourage essentializing normality and pathology\u2014expecting functions to be as specific as those for parts of machine and dysfunctions to involve discrete anatomo\u2010physiological or molecular defects corresponding to broken parts. Rejecting tacit creationism, and accepting the messy reality of organic complexity, the fuzzy boundaries of disorders and the multiple difference\u2010makers that contribute to pathogenesis offers a better way forward for neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/ejn.70028","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,12]],"date-time":"2025-03-12T03:16:21Z","timestamp":1741749381000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Tacit Creationism Encourages Oversimplified Views of Functions and Dysfunctions"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"61","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7218-7810","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dan\u00a0J.","family":"Stein","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"SAMRC Unit on Risk &amp; Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry &amp; Neuroscience Institute University of Cape Town  Cape Town South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1768-0949","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Randolph\u00a0M.","family":"Nesse","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology University of Michigan  Ann Arbor Michigan USA"},{"name":"Center for Evolution and Medicine Arizona State University  Tempe Arizona USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/NMD.0000000000001791"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","volume-title":"Nature's Purposes: Analyses of Function and Design in Biology","author":"Allen C.","year":"1998"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","volume-title":"Discovering Complexity: Decomposition and Localization as Strategies in Scientific Research","author":"Bechtel W.","year":"1993"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.shpsc.2018.05.003"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","volume-title":"What Is Mental Disorder? An Essay in Philosophy, Science, and Values, International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry","author":"Bolton D.","year":"2008"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","first-page":"49","article-title":"On the Distinction Between Disease and Illness","volume":"5","author":"Boorse C.","year":"1975","journal-title":"Philosophy & Public Affairs"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-59259-451-1_1"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jmp\/jhu035"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/ejn.16331"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/070674370505000605"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2024640"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-94-017-8887-8_4"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/9949.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/070674371305801203"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12916-020-01668-w"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1353\/ppp.2021.0055"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-clinpsy-081219-091234"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bjps\/axw021"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-57306-9_14"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.47014"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_22_1","volume-title":"Vagueness in Psychiatry, International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry","author":"Keil G.","year":"2017"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/mp.2011.182"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_24_1","volume-title":"Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought","author":"Lakoff G.","year":"2010"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0162-3095(94)90002-7"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511802683"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1749-6632.2001.tb03472.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_28_1","volume-title":"Good Reasons for bad Feelings: Insights From the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry","author":"Nesse R. M.","year":"2019"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_29_1","unstructured":"Nesse R. M.2020. \u201cTacit Creationism in Emotion Research. ISRE's Sourcebook for Research on Emotion and Affect.\u201d"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/wps.21072"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0013503"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_32_1","article-title":"Explanations for failure in bodies and machines: Global similarities but profound differences","author":"Nesse R. M.","journal-title":"PNAS Nexus"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1741\u20107015\u201010\u20105"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jmp\/jhx010"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400888603"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/521970"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_37_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511544286"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_38_1","volume-title":"Problems of Living: Perspectives From Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Cognitive\u2010Affective Science","author":"Stein D. J.","year":"2021"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_39_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1353\/ppp.2022.0037"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1754073915575407"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_41_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0033291721001185"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/wps.20998"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/070674370505000604"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.99.2.232"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_45_1","first-page":"149","article-title":"The Concept of Mental Disorder: Diagnostic Implications of the Harmful Dysfunction Analysis","volume":"6","author":"Wakefield J. C.","year":"2007","journal-title":"World Psychiatry"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ajp.2015.15060753"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_47_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctv1pncnrh"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2183766"}],"container-title":["European Journal of Neuroscience"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/ejn.70028","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,19]],"date-time":"2025-11-19T13:55:13Z","timestamp":1763560513000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/ejn.70028"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]},"references-count":47,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/ejn.70028"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/ejn.70028","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1111\/EJN.70028\/v1\/review1","asserted-by":"object"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1111\/EJN.70028\/v1\/review2","asserted-by":"object"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1111\/EJN.70028\/v2\/decision1","asserted-by":"object"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1111\/EJN.70028\/v2\/review1","asserted-by":"object"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1111\/EJN.70028\/v1\/decision1","asserted-by":"object"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1111\/EJN.70028\/v2\/response1","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["0953-816X","1460-9568"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0953-816X","type":"print"},{"value":"1460-9568","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2024-07-31","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-02-07","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-03-06","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e70028"}}