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Functionalism

David Braddon‐Mitchell

Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science January 15, 2006 DOI: 10.1002/0470018860.s00109 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Key points Proposes that mental states are defined by their functional roles within a system, rather than by their physical constitution.

Abstract

AbstractFunctionalism is the view in the philosophy of mind that that what makes some state of some system a mental state is what that state does in the system.