ABSTRACT
The notion of function has been borrowed by sociologists from the language of biology (cf. the glycogenic function of the liver in Claude Bernard’s work) and from the language of organizations (cf. function of management, public function). A certain number of epistemological difficulties are derived from this origin: does the notion of function not involve an assimilation of any social system with an organism or an organization? Is it not leading to the introduction of explanation of a teleological type giving too great a role to final causes?
