Invisible-Hand Explanations Reconsidered

Edna Ullmann-Margalit introduced the notion of an invisible hand explanation (I-H explanation) to the philosophical literature in 1978, and made a distinction between "aggregate" and "functional-evolutionary" (F-E) forms of I-H explanations. The present paper produces a substantially refined analysis of the forms and functions of I-H explanations. Sections (1) and (2) introduce the ideas of I-H and aggregate I-H explanation, respectively. Section (J) argues that no one form of explanation can serve the explanatory functions Ullmanri-Margalit attributes to aggregate explanations, and divides those explanatory functions between genetic and "systematic-dispositional" explanations. Section (4) identifies difficulties with the idea of F-E explanation in the social realm, and shows that any I-H explanations fitting the F-E mold would constitute simply a special class of "aggregate" explanation.