Social Functions in Philosophy

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.

• Introduction Rebekka Hufendiek, Daniel James, and Raphael van Riel1. The Empirical Issues in Functional Explanations in the Social SciencesHarold Kincaid2. Do Organizations Adapt?Daniel Little3. Social DysfunctionsHeiner Koch4. In Search for Missing Mechanisms. Functional Explanation in Social ScienceRaphael van Riel5. From Natural Hierarchy-Signals to Social Norm Enforcers. What Good Are Functional Explanations of Shame and Pride?Rebekka Hufendiek6. What Grounds Social Role Normativity?Charlotte Witt7. The Social Function of MoralityAndreas Müller8. The Function of Gender as a Historical KindMari Mikkola9. Function Without Intention? A Practice-Theoretical Solution to Challenges of the Social DomainAmrei Bahr10. Revealing Social Functions through Pragmatic GenealogiesMatthieu Queloz11. Social Organisms. Hegel’s Organizational Theory of Social FunctionsDaniel James