87: 1 January 2004
On Function 

Advisory Editors: Randall Dipert, University at Buffalo, and Anthonie Meijers, Delft/Eindhoven

The concept of function plays a crucial role in engineering. It figures also in biology, cognitive science, the social sciences (economics, sociology, law), and, under the heading 'functionalism', in the philosophy of mind. The concept is related to the notion of the purpose of an artifact, but also to associated notions of the ends or purposes of human action, and thus to the concepts of intentionality and normativity. A general, unified analysis of function, however, remains elusive. Recent work in the philosophy of biology seeks to explain function in terms of survival value or selected effects in evolution, but this approach cannot so easily be transferred to other domains. For example, the functions of technical artifacts such as computers or cars, or the functions of social institutions such as universities or courts of justice, are hard to explain in biological terms. This issue of The Monist focuses on the ontology and intentionality of functions. Among the topics to be considered are: technical functions versus social and biological functions; function and design; the ontology of function and purpose, and their relationship to natural properties; the taxonomy of functions and the idea of simple, bare functions; functional versus structural part-whole relationships; functions and relational properties; and the normativity of functions.

Table of Contents:

Wybo Houkes and Pieter Vermaas

Actions versus Functions: A Plea for an Alternative Metaphysics of Artifacts

Richard Cameron

How to be a Realist about sui generis Teleology Yet Feel at Home in the 21st Century

Ingvar Johannson

Functions, Function Concepts, and Scales

Tim Schroeder

Functions from Regulation

Peter H. Schwartz

An Alternative to Conceptual Analysis in the Function Debate

Marc Perlman

The Modern Philosopical Resurrection Of Teleology