 Attention to the actual explanatory practices of contemporary biologists is central to these discussions. This focus on scientific practice reflects broader trends within the philosophy of science, expanding beyond the general and abstract questions about scientific epistemology and metaphysics that dominated the twentieth century. The diversity of life itself is reflected in the variety of scientific attempts to understand it, and as philosophers of biology pursue further engagement with this variety, novel perspectives on the role and appropriateness of functional and teleological notions seem likely to result. 