Introduction

Social functions thus appear to differ from paradigmatic functions of human artifacts, or functions of human organs, whose effects are located at the individual level. An investigation into the nature of social functions may thus inform us about some aspects of our ordinary conception of social reality, but also, to the extent that this conception gets it right, about social reality itself. An important idea in the history of the social sciences, and also in philosophy, has been that some alleged social functions need to be uncovered. Historically, the notion of a social function traces back to the emergence of sociology and anthropology as autonomous areas of inquiry in the 19th century. The chapter explains the perspective to provide some theoretical background on philosophical theories of functions in general, many of which have been inspired by the philosophy of biology. It is widely agreed that in some cases, functionality arises from intentions or intentional actions of individuals.