functionalism

Something is a functional kind only if, and because, it can be analyzed in terms of a causal role (e.g., something is an F only if, and because, it plays the F-role).F is realized by P in X only if, and because, P plays the F-role in X.A property is multiply realizable only if, and because, it can be realized by different things in different objects.

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses (including rhinoviruses) or coronaviruses.

The common cold virus is transmitted between people by one of two mechanisms: contact with the saliva or nasal secretions of an infected person or in aerosol form generated by coughing or sneezing.

Common symptoms are sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing…

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses (including rhinoviruses) or coronaviruses.

The common cold virus is transmitted between people by one of two mechanisms: contact with the saliva or nasal secretions of an infected person or in aerosol form generated by coughing or sneezing.

Common symptoms are sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing…

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses (including rhinoviruses) or coronaviruses.

The common cold virus is transmitted between people by one of two mechanisms: contact with the saliva or nasal secretions of an infected person or in aerosol form generated by coughing or sneezing.

Common symptoms are sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing…

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses (including rhinoviruses) or coronaviruses.

The common cold virus is transmitted between people by one of two mechanisms: contact with the saliva or nasal secretions of an infected person or in aerosol form generated by coughing or sneezing.

Common symptoms are sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing…

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses (including rhinoviruses) or coronaviruses.

The common cold virus is transmitted between people by one of two mechanisms: contact with the saliva or nasal secretions of an infected person or in aerosol form generated by coughing or sneezing.

Common symptoms are sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing…

The Pain Role: (i) An internal state, (ii) primarily caused by tissue damage, (iii) which can result from kicking, burning, etc. and (iv) which commonly causes crying, frowning, and whimpering, as well as (v) anger, the desire for it to stop, the belief that one is in pain, etc.

Realizer Functionalism: Mental states are the states that play the associated causal role. Something is in pain only if, and because, it is in the state that plays the pain role.Role Functionalism: Mental states are higher-order states like the state of having some state or other that plays the associated causal role. Something is in pain only if, and because, it is in some state or other that plays the pain role.

Behaviorism: Mental states are behavior or dispositions to behavior. Something is in pain only if, and because, it is crying or wincing or... and not pretending.

The Pain Role: (i) An internal state, (ii) primarily caused by tissue damage, (iii) which can result from kicking, burning, etc. and (iv) which commonly causes crying, frowning, and whimpering, as well as (v) anger, the desire for it to stop, the belief that one is in pain, etc.

We are assembled in the drawing room of the country house; the detective reconstructs the crime. That is, he proposes a theory designed to be the best explanation of phenomena we have observed: the death of Mr. Body, the blood on the wallpaper, the silence of the dog in the night, the clock seventeen minutes fast, and so on. He launches into his story…

X, Y and Z conspire to murder Mr. Body. Seventeen years ago, in the gold fields of Uganda, X was Body’s partner… Last week, Y and Z conferred in a bar in Reading… Tuesday night at 11:17, Y went to the attic and set a time bomb… Seventeen minutes later, X met Z in the billiard room and gave him the lead pipe… Just when the bomb went off in the attic, X fired three shots into the study through the French windows…

The Pain Role: (i) An internal state, (ii) primarily caused by tissue damage, (iii) which can result from kicking, burning, etc. and (iv) which commonly causes crying, frowning, and whimpering, as well as (v) anger, the desire for it to stop, the belief that one is in pain, etc.

There are some internal mental states W, X, Y, and Z, such that W is typically caused by tissue damage and… W typically causes X, and a Y for W to stop, and a Z that one is in W, and…

In the previous chapter we noticed that mental states can be multiply realized. In humans the state which realizes pain is (say) c-fiber firing; in squid it’s (say) d-fiber firing. Multiple realization raises a puzzle: what do old Eight-legs and I have in common when we are both in pain? It can’t be c-fiber firing because Eight-legs has no c-fibers (or so I will assume). And it can’t be d-fiber firing because I have no d-fibers (or so I will assume). In virtue of what, then, is it true that Eight-legs and I are both in pain?

Functionalism provides an answer to this puzzle.Ravenscroft,

Philosophy of Mind