Overview

Social functions and functional explanations play a prominent role not only in our everyday reasoning but also in classical as well as contemporary social theory and empirical social research. This volume explores metaphysical, normative, and methodological perspectives on social functions and functional explanations in the social sciences. It aims to push the philosophical debate on social functions forward along new investigative lines by including up-to-date discussions of the metaphysics of social functions, questions concerning the nature of functional explanations within the social domain, and various applications of functionalist theorising. As such, this is one of the first collections to exclusively address a variety of philosophical questions concerning the nature and relevance of social functions.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rebekka Hufendiek ,  Daniel James ,  Raphael van Riel
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.640kg
ISBN:  

9781138351325

ISBN 10:   1138351326
Pages:   254
Publication Date:   11 March 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Rebekka Hufendiek, Daniel James, and Raphael van Riel 1. The Empirical Issues in Functional Explanations in the Social Sciences Harold Kincaid 2. Do Organizations Adapt? Daniel Little 3. Social Dysfunctions Heiner Koch 4. In Search for Missing Mechanisms. Functional Explanation in Social Science Raphael van Riel 5. From Natural Hierarchy-Signals to Social Norm Enforcers. What Good Are Functional Explanations of Shame and Pride? Rebekka Hufendiek 6. What Grounds Social Role Normativity? Charlotte Witt 7. The Social Function of Morality Andreas Müller 8. The Function of Gender as a Historical Kind Mari Mikkola 9. Function Without Intention? A Practice-Theoretical Solution to Challenges of the Social Domain Amrei Bahr 10. Revealing Social Functions through Pragmatic Genealogies Matthieu Queloz 11. Social Organisms. Hegel’s Organizational Theory of Social Functions Daniel James

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Author Information

Rebekka Hufendiek is an Assistant Professor at the University of Basel. Her research interests lie in philosophy of mind and philosophy of science, particularly in empirical and ideological dimensions of research on cognitive and behavioral features. Her book Embodied Emotions: A Naturalist Approach to a Normative Phenomenon (Routledge 2015) provides a noncognitivist theory of emotions. Daniel James’ historical research concerns the intersection of Hegel’s metaphysics with his political philosophy. With a view to contemporary debates in social philosophy, he is interested in the concept of social power and its fruitfulness for social-scientific inquiry, as well as in social dispositions and their connection to social-structural explanation, Raphael van Riel holds a position as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Duisburg-Essen, where he directs a research group which focuses on theories of explanation. In his book The Concept of Reduction (2014), he offers a novel explication of reduction claims in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science.

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