FUNCTIONAL EXPLANATION AND VIRTUAL SELECTION

Invoking its social function can explain why we find a certain functio nal trait or institution only if we can identify a mechanism whereby t he playing of the function connects with the explanandum. That is the main claim in the missing-mechanism critique of functionalism. Is it c orrect? Yes, if functional explanation is meant to make sense of the a ctual presence of the trait or institution. No, if it is meant to make sense of why the trait or institution is resilient: why we can rely o n it to survive various contingencies. The lesson? Social functionalis m should be taken, and may have been taken by its founders, as a progr amme for explaining resilience.