Functionalism Without Relentless Optimism: The Dark Side of InstitutionsFrank Hindriks
9 December 2021
Frank Hindriks (University of Groningen), 17:15 - 18:45, presents his project in the Interdisciplinary Research Seminar of the GRK "Collective Decision-Making”.
This seminar will take place via Zoom. Please register (if you haven’t already) here if you want to attend the seminar. We invite everyone interested to attend!
Abstract
According to functionalism, certain things persist because they perform a function. This is meant to be an explanatory claim about how the effects that an entity has reinforce its functioning. But functionalism is often criticized for being overly optimistic, as if things with a function are always good or valuable. Here, I respond to this criticism by distinguishing realistic functionalism from optimistic functionalism as views about social structures. And I argue that social institutions can persist even if they are objectively bad, for instance harmful or unjust. Their function is to generate subjective benefits and they can do so irrespective of the objective value they have. Thus, realistic functionalism avoids the relentless optimism of its rival. In fact, it can accommodate the dark side of institutions. In the process of defending these claims, I explain when and why functionalism provides for a respectable kind of explanation.