Full Idea
According to functionalism, the way things look to you is a relational characteristic of your experience, not part of its intrinsic character.
Gist of Idea
The way things look is a relational matter, not an intrinsic matter
Source
Gilbert Harman ((Nonsolipsistic) Conceptual Role Semantics [1987], 12.3.3)
Book Reference
Harman,Gilbert: 'Reasoning Meaning and Mind' [OUP 1999], p.223
A Reaction
No, can't make sense of that. How would being in a relation determine what something is? Similar problems with the structuralist account of mathematics. If the whole family love some one cat or one dog, the only difference is intrinsic to the animal.