Functionalism: A Philosophical Analysis

When we think of the science of philosophy we often ponder its use. Other sciences such as biology and physics explore the universe and our reality so we can better understand the environment around us and what our physical state is. When we began to wonder what our inner thoughts were, we created psychology to understand the human nature; however, that still was not enough. We longed for more. Philo is Greek for love, while sophia means wisdom. Philosophy is defined as the love of wisdom. Unlike the other sciences philosophy longs to answer more than just what is the reality around us, but it also takes an in-depth look at more than just what we can perceive with our senses. Throughout history we have been searching for the answers to various philosophical questions. These questions include “Do we have free will?” and “Is the universe real?”. Yet one of the most thought provoking questions lies within the body-mind problem.
The body-mind problem (also known as the mind-body problem) basically asks if the human body and mind are of the same substance. The problem also asks if they are of the same nature and what relation these two have. We perceive the body as a physical substance so we call it the material, but we often consider the mind to be immaterial. We say that it is immaterial …show more content…
Functionalism is slightly different from the other five branches. In the other five branches we look deeply at what the mind is made of; however, in functionalism we look at what their role is. The function of the physical and the function of the immaterial are so closely related that they are of one substance. We could say that out mental thoughts (the immaterial) are to help us interpret reality. Similarly, our physical bodies use our five senses to better understand what is around us. Since both the mind and the body have the same function, they are of the same substance. The main proponent to this branch is D. M.