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Single Idea 2578
[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / C. Functionalism / 8. Functionalism critique
]
Full Idea
If pain is a functional state, it cannot be a brain state, because creatures without brains could realise the same Turing machine as creatures with brains.
Gist of Idea
Could a creature without a brain be in the right functional state for pain?
Source
Ned Block (Troubles with Functionalism [1978], p. 70)
Book Ref
'The Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Beakley,B /Ludlow P [MIT 1992], p.70
A Reaction
This strikes me as being a poorly grounded claim. There may be some hypothetical world where brainless creatures implement all our functions, but from here brains look the only plausible option.
The
16 ideas
from Ned Block
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6172
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The Inverted Earth example shows that phenomenal properties are not representational
[Block, by Rowlands]
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18033
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The meaning of a representation is its role in thought, perception or decisions
[Block]
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2574
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Behaviour requires knowledge as well as dispositions
[Block]
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2576
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In functionalism, desires are internal states with causal relations
[Block]
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2575
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Functionalism is behaviourism, but with mental states as intermediaries
[Block]
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2578
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Could a creature without a brain be in the right functional state for pain?
[Block]
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2577
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Simple machine-functionalism says mind just is a Turing machine
[Block]
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2580
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A Turing machine, given a state and input, specifies an output and the next state
[Block]
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2579
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Physicalism is prejudiced in favour of our neurology, when other systems might have minds
[Block]
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2581
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Intuition may say that a complex sentence is ungrammatical, but linguistics can show that it is not
[Block]
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2582
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A brain looks no more likely than anything else to cause qualia
[Block]
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2583
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You might invert colours, but you can't invert beliefs
[Block]
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2584
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Lobotomised patients can cease to care about a pain
[Block]
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2585
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Not just any old functional network will have mental states
[Block]
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2586
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In functionalism, what are the special inputs and outputs of conscious creatures?
[Block]
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3178
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A fast machine could pass all behavioural tests with a vast lookup table
[Block, by Rey]
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