A mechanism is part of an answer to a question about why some object or process occurred. Mechanism refers backwards from the object or process, along some chain of causes. No description of mechanism is ever complete. For example, the mechanism of sunlight might include the rotation of the earth, the earth's orbit, the sun, nuclear reactions, heat, temperature, radiation emission, electromagnetic theory about the propagation of light, formation of the solar system, etc. Compare this to the function of the object or process, which looks forward along some chain of causation to a goal or evolutionary success. In general, a function is part of an answer to a question about why some object or process occurred in a system that evolved or was designed with some goal. ...

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