PHLB81H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Multiple Realizability, Type Physicalism, Function Problem
Document Summary
Week 5 lecture #5: tuesday october 4, 2016. The plan: functionalism, a philosophical worry about functionalism, a scientific worry about functionalism. Functionalism: a mental state depends on: the role it plays in the system of which it"s a part, caused by: things that happen in the brain and body, aren"t identical with: things that happen in the brain. Mental state is identical w/ the brain state. But functionalism says that the mental isn"t identical, maybe cause by brain state: pain: that thing is caused by injury, makes us thing something is wrong, makes us want to get away from it, etc. Serves a function to get us away from harm: pain is what: serves a certain function in our lives. It"s defined as what function it has in our lives. Big questions: what is the mind, is it physical or non-physical, do we have minds at all, what is its relationship to the brain, functionalism.