Philosophy Functionalism Questions Medium
The major proponents of Functionalism in philosophy were Hilary Putnam, Jerry Fodor, and David Lewis. These philosophers played significant roles in developing and promoting the functionalist perspective within the philosophy of mind. Hilary Putnam, in his influential work "The Nature of Mental States," argued for a functionalist understanding of mental states, emphasizing that mental states are not solely determined by their physical properties but also by their functional roles in the cognitive system. Jerry Fodor, in his book "The Language of Thought," further developed functionalism by proposing the computational theory of mind, which suggests that mental processes can be understood as computational operations. David Lewis, in his work "Psychophysical and Theoretical Identifications," contributed to functionalism by defending the idea that mental states are multiply realizable, meaning they can be instantiated by different physical systems. These philosophers, among others, have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of functionalism as a prominent perspective in the philosophy of mind.