Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Part One)

From The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

On Hilary Putnam's "The Nature of Mental States" (1973).

What is the mind? Functionalist theories identify the mental with not with the brain exactly, but with something the brain does. So some other creature without a brain (maybe a computer) might be able to do that same thing if it could duplicate the structure of what our brains do. Is this a satisfying account of the mind?

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