Additional Resources (LU6)

Functionalism is the formal position that codifies intuition. Intuition is the ability to understand something instinctively without conscious reasoning. The tenets central of functionalism are that mental state, which is the internal state of thinking creatures. So, if something acts as a particular mental state, it is that. Therefore, functionalism is defined as the producing concern for bodily harm and acting, whether you want to fight or run off. Functionalist mental states can be "realized" by different physical states. Not even people, alien or synthetic life forms, can all experience the same kind of mental states because all possesses different physical states but shared mental states. In conclusion, computers can act the same way as humans but do not have different kinds of fear and emotion because computers do not have physical states.