ABSTRACT
There is agreement among philosophers of science that scientific explanation of phenomena consists in deducing propositions from other more general propositions. Explanations are attained when observations about empirical phenomena can be logically deduced from these propositions which can also be called laws. More specifically, the society is viewed in different ways by different sociologists and these differing views of society are all ways of examining the same phenomena (e.g.) conflict view, functionalist, interactionist view etc. As an attempt to understand more fully the explanation provided by the structural functionalists, this study will examine the relevance of the theory to the medical system. In contemporary sociology, functionalism presents the most important single attempt to construct a scientific system of explanation that is peculiarly sociological. In particular, structural functionalism will be examined as found in the writing of T. Parsons, R. Merton and other scholars. The remainders of this study will consider the objections and criticisms leveled against the theory.