more from John Heil

Single Idea 4599

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / C. Functionalism / 3. Psycho-Functionalism]

Full Idea

Although your heart is a material object, the property of being a heart is, if we accept the functionalist picture, not a material property.

Gist of Idea

Hearts are material, but functionalism says the property of being a heart is not a material property

Source

John Heil (Philosophy of Mind [1998], Ch.4)

Book Reference

Heil,John: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Routledge 1998], p.97


A Reaction

Presumably functional properties are not physical because they are multiply realisable. The property of being a heart is more like a theoretical flow diagram than it is like a muscle. That word 'property' again…