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SUMMARY:Winchgenstein and functional explanation - Adrian Boutel (HPS\, Ca
 mbridge)
DTSTART:20130213T130000Z
DTEND:20130213T143000Z
UID:TALK42817@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Vashka dos Remedios
DESCRIPTION:Functional explanations in social science explain social pheno
 mena by appeal to the role that they play in society's functioning. Such e
 xplanations look to be incompatible with those that appeal to social \nact
 ors' subjective reasons for acting as they do-and to imply that such reaso
 ns must be mere rationalisation or epiphenomenal ideology. I argue \nthat 
 this is a false dilemma: the same behaviour can have both functional and i
 ntentional explanations. I then consider Peter Winch's influential applica
 tion of Wittgensteinian ideas (hence: "Winchgenstein") to rule out functio
 nal explanation as inconsistent with social science's philosophically mand
 atory focus on interpreting meanings. I argue that functional explanation 
 can survive Winch\, perhaps with an assist from a different kind of functi
 onalism.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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