What Functions Explain

Focusing on functional explanation in biology and social sciences, the book explores philosophical presuppositions behind such explanations. It addresses key questions about the nature and implications of functional explanations, examining why some phenomena are explained functionally while others are not. McLaughlin critically reviews fifty years of debate in the philosophy of science, delving into the history of teleology and offering a detailed Aristotelian analysis of natural functions, contributing significantly to the ongoing discourse in this area.