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Full Idea
Everybody is a functionalist, in that we all hold that mental states are individuated, at least in part, by reference to their causal powers.
Clarification
'Individuated' means 'assigned identifying features'
Gist of Idea
Causal powers must be a crucial feature of mental states
Source
Jerry A. Fodor (Psychosemantics [1987], p.138)
Book Ref
Fodor,Jerry A.: 'Psychosemantics' [MIT 1993], p.138
A Reaction
I might individuate the Prime Minister by the carnation in his buttonhole. However, even a dualist must concede that we individuate mental faculties by their role within the mind.
| 4600 | Armstrong and Lewis see functionalism as an identity of the function and its realiser [Armstrong, by Heil] |
| 5493 | If pains are defined causally, and research shows that the causal role is physical, then pains are physical [Armstrong, by Lycan] |
| 7429 | Causal Functionalism says mental states are apt for producing behaviour [Armstrong] |
| 7441 | Experiences are defined by their causal role, and causal roles belong to physical states [Lewis] |
| 7442 | 'Pain' contingently names the state that occupies the causal role of pain [Lewis] |
| 7444 | Type-type psychophysical identity is combined with a functional characterisation of pain [Lewis] |
| 3011 | Causal powers must be a crucial feature of mental states [Fodor] |