Abstract
Cancer biology features ascriptions of normal function to cancer. Normal functions are activities that parts of systems, in some minimal sense, should perform. Cancer biologists’ ascriptions pose difficulties for two main approaches to normal function, leaving a gap in the literature. One approach claims that normal functions are activities that parts are selected for. However, some parts of cancers have normal functions but aren’t selected to perform them. The other approach claims that normal functions are part-activities that are typical for the system and contribute to survival/reproduction. However, cancers are too heterogeneous to establish what’s typical across a type.
