functionalism

Question 1

explain functionalism

Answer 1

• “all mental states can be characterised in terms of functional roles which can be multiply realised”
• functionalism defines mental states in terms of its functional roles
• e.g. the heart is defined in terms of its role in the body, it is the organ which pumps blood around the body
• to define a mental state in terms of its function is to define it in terms of its causal role it plays with environmental inputs via the senses
• e.g. the belief that it is raining is brought about by seeing the rain which causes you to act in certain ways such as getting out an umbrella
• a functional role can be realised by different types of material, so mental states are multiply realisable
• mental states supervene on states of the brain
• an alien could have the same mental states as us

Question 2

explain the issue for functionalism: the possibility of a functional duplicate with different qualia (inverted qualia)

Answer 2

• functionalism cannot account for the intrinsic qualitative nature of qualia
• if me and someone else, say Paul, have functionally identical visual systems, then we react in the same sorts of ways to the electromagnetic spectrum that impacts on our eyes
• since functionalism defines mental states functionally, we must therefore have the same mental states when we experience colours
• but it is conceivable that we have systematically inverted qualitative experiences of colour e.g. when I experience the qualia of red, you experience the qualia of green
• functionalism cannot account for the intrinsic qualitative nature of qualia

Question 3

explain the issue for functionalism: the possibility of a functional duplicate with no mentality/qualia (Ned Block’s china thought experiment)

Answer 3

• ned block describes a set up that is functionally identical to a mind but that is not the same thing
• the population of china is about 1 billion, the same number of neurons in a persons mind
• imagine every person in china was given two-way radios connecting them to each other
• each person represents a singular neuron
• some of these people are linked to the outputs of the body
• they recreated the function of neurons, the input and output is the same as a human brain
• the china population is hooked up to a human body
• imagine the body stands on a nail and is caused by the china population to scream and hop on one leg
• we wouldn’t say there would be the experience of qualia, so functionalism must be wrong in its claim that qualia can be reduced to functional states

Question 4

explain the issue for functionalism: the ‘knowledge’/Mary argument can be applied to functional facts (no amount of facts about function suffices to explain qualia)

Answer 4

• Mary grows up in a black and white room all her life, but she learns all the physical and functional facts that is involved in colour vision
• when she steps out the room and experiences colour vision herself she learns something new
• so there is more to know about colour vision than what is given in a complete functional account of it
• so functionalism is false