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Philosophy vocabulary · Philosophy of Mind

Functionalism

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ˈfʌŋkʃənəlɪzəm/nounAdvanced term

In philosophy, functionalism means: The view that a mental state is defined by what it does, its causal role between inputs, other mental states and behavior, rather than by what it is made of.

In Turkish: işlevselcilik, fonksiyonalizm

How it is used

Developed from the 1960s by Hilary Putnam and others. It allows multiple realizability: the same mental state could exist in a human brain, an octopus or a computer. Sociology and architecture have unrelated theories with the same name.

Example sentences

  1. On functionalism, pain is whatever state is caused by damage and causes avoidance.

  2. The Chinese room was designed as a challenge to functionalism and to strong AI.

Common collocations

  • machine functionalism
  • multiple realizability
  • functional role
  • functionalism about the mind
  • physicalismThe view that everything that exists is physical or depends entirely on the physical, so that the mind is ultimately part of the physical world.
  • mind-body problemThe question of how the mind, with its thoughts and feelings, is related to the body and especially to the brain.
  • intentionalityThe property of mental states of being about or directed at something, as a belief is about a fact or a desire is for an object.
  • qualiaThe subjective qualities of conscious experience, such as how the redness of red looks or how a headache feels to the person who has it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Philosophy of Mind

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