Functionalism

Question 1

What is Functionalism?

Answer 1

All mentam states can be defined in terms of what what they do, not what they are, so arent restricted to carbon brains

Question 2

What is a function?

Answer 2

A function is simply what a mental state does, not what it is (c-fuber excitation).

Question 3

Issue:
Possibility of a functional duplicate with different qualia (inverted qualia)

Answer 3

There could be a person who experiences the same function of seeing red, when in actuality is seeing blue. Their functional state would be indistinguishable from one another.
There must be more to experience that functionality, as they have the same function but are experiencing different things.

Question 4

Response to inverted qualia

Answer 4

Functionalism is concerned with ‘does’ rather that ‘is”. This objection applies to all theories so far.

Question 5

Issue:
The possibility of a functional duplicate with no mentality/qualia (China brain)

Answer 5

The populatio of china is about 1 billion, around the same number od neurons in the brain. If thwy were all given radios to interact they qoukd resemble the function of a brain. If the body they inhabited qas to syand on a nail and is caused by the people to scream in pain, woukd there be any experience of qualia? If no, then functionalism must be wrong in claiming that qualia can be reduced to functional mental states.

Question 6

Issue:
The knowledge/Mary argument

Answer 6

If mary knows everyhtunf about colour qithiut seeing the colour red, then does she gain new knowledge by then seeing the colour red. Yes, so there is more to know about colour than the functional mental state, so functionalism is wrong.

Question 7

Response to mary arguemnt

Answer 7

Qe may just not be aware if the functional facts of qualia. Awareness of colohr is like a shortcut aweareness of a complex functional state. So If mary did know eveytbung about red, sje would know what it looked like.