The notions of purpose, goal, end and function are used (and abused) in descriptions of a very wide range of human, animal and machine behaviour. Andrew Woodfield provides here a unified account of such teleological descriptions and explanations, their varieties, their logical structure and their proper uses. He concentrates his argument on the concepts of 'goal-directed behaviour' and 'natural function', and combines original philosophical criticism with a meticulous, detailed survey of the main competing theories in this diffuse and difficult field.

International Satellite Broadcasting in South Asia focuses on the increase in the popularity of television in India beginning with the entrance of Hong Kong Based STAR-TV in 1991. This television system, which initially carried mostly Western programs, radically changed the nature of entertainment communications in countries where communications were generally state-controlled. These essays address the political, economic, and cultural significance and impact of transnational satellite networks in India, questioning the cultural effects of Western media programs on the recipient non-Western countries. They contain a survey of STAR-TV and the state-controlled Doordarshan as well as explore issues such as media and identity, pro-social entertainment television and culture as a market force.