?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=What+Is+Functionalism%3F&rft.creator=Block%2C+Ned&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.description=What+is+Functionalism%3F+Functionalism+is+one+of+the+major+proposals+that+have+been+offered+as+solutions+to+the+mind%2Fbody+problem.+Solutions+to+the+mind%2Fbody+problem+usually+try+to+answer+questions+such+as%3A+What+is+the+ultimate+nature+of+the+mental%3F+At+the+most+general+level%2C+what+makes+a+mental+state+mental%3F+Or+more+specifically%2C+What+do+thoughts+have+in+common+in+virtue+of+which+they+are+thoughts%3F+That+is%2C+what+makes+a+thought+a+thought%3F+What+makes+a+pain+a+pain%3F+Cartesian+Dualism+said+the+ultimate+nature+of+the+mental+was+to+be+found+in+a+special+mental+substance.+Behaviorism+identified+mental+states+with+behavioral+dispositions%3B+physicalism+in+its+most+influential+version+identifies+mental+states+with+brain+states.+Functionalism+says+that+mental+states+are+constituted+by+their+causal+relations+to+one+another+and+to+sensory+inputs+and+behavioral+outputs.+Functionalism+is+one+of+the+major+theoretical+developments+of+Twentieth+Century+analytic+philosophy%2C+and+provides+the+conceptual+underpinnings+of+much+work+in+cognitive+science.+&rft.publisher=Macmillan&rft.date=1996&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F235%2F1%2F199712008.html&rft.identifier=++Block%2C+Ned++(1996)+What+Is+Functionalism%3F++%5BBook+Chapter%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F235%2F