Functionalism versus intentionalism

Ordinary Men Discussion The description of the men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 can be found very early in Ordinary Men. According to author Christopher R. Browning, "They were middle-aged family men of working- and lower middle class background from the city of Hamburg” (1). They were often “considered too old to be of use to the German army” and “Most were raw recruits with no previous experience in German occupied territory” (1). According to author Browning these men were quite different than those who truly believed in the Nazi Agenda such as the SS who committed many atrocities time and again through World War II. These men did not wish to be a part of the Final Solution against the Jews. Many first-hand accounts of the soldiers in Battalion 101 who were forced to shoot Jews in the city Jozefow attest to this. One soldiers stated, “I was already upset from the cruel treatment of the Jews during the clearing of the town and was completely in turmoil” (66). Author Browning states that upon reaching the conclusion of mass murder of Jews in Jozefow that “neither the drink (widespread distribution and consumption of alcohol) nor Trapp’s consolation could wash away the sense of shame and horror that pervaded the barracks” (69). In fact, many would ask to be relieved during this ordeal due to the inability to morally continue in this genocide. Major Wilhelm Trapp, Battalion 101’s commander serve as a testament that these men did not believe in what they were being…

Daniel Feldman 2R 10/09/15 H. English Not only was Paul Rusesabagina brilliant in a number of ways, he used his creative mind to manipulate the circumstances he was dealing with in Rwanda to save his fellow citizens. An Ordinary Man is about one courageous man named Paul and how he fought through evil just to save others lives. In 1994, over 800,000 people were murdered in Rwanda and this is the story of how Paul saved thousands of people from being slaughtered and how he used verbal…

culture that we live in that society still finds a function for these beliefs; because “It is important to remember that we all have magic inside us.” (J.K. Rowling). Using Bronislaw Malinowski’s theory of functionalism; I will attempt to compare that these beliefs are functionally interrelated and form an integrated social whole. “Witchcraft had once been widely used before cursed by the society…” (Toba Beta). Just as the practitioners of witchcraft have The Book of Shadows to put spells and…

Thinking and computing share many characteristics but finally, are concepts separate from one another. In this essay I will define thinking and computing to the degree necessary to make clear what exactly is being referenced when the somewhat vague terms appear throughout the paper. I will then use John Searle’s Chinese Room thought experiment in order to further clarify the differences between the two concepts with the focus being on the importance of semantics. A look at the differences…

Putnam advocates for functionalism, the idea that the mind is defined by what it does, rather than what it is composed of. The mind serves a purpose similar to that of a machine, taking various inputs, performing a function, and producing certain outputs. He contests the arguments of the brain-state theory which claims that mental processes and brain processes are the same. I will claim that Putnam’s argument for functionalism is successful because he does not place limits on the inputs for…

In chapter seven of the book “Problems from Philosophy”, by James Rachels, the author Guided us through the process in which the topic of “Could a Machine Think?” Was a question that would arise many arguments and claims to prove its possibilities. The main points to this chapter were the arguments and objections that were trying to answer the following question “Could Machines Think?”. These arguments consisted of the Piecemeal-Replacement Argument, The Tipping Point Objection, The Turing…

The mind body problem questions what is the nature of the mind and mental states? How are the mind and the body related? How are mental states related to brain states? Descartes says that there are two kinds of elements in the world, bodies and minds. Descartes believes in interactionism which means minds and bodies intermingle with one another. The Chinese Room Argument was introduced by philosopher John Searle. In this experiment He explains an encounter that a human has with a computer that…

The argument in John Searle’s famous “Chinese room” experiment is that understanding or intelligence in general is not the same as teaching a computer symbols, recognition of them, or computations. In this experiment a man is instructed to translate a paper with squiggles by an answer key, through “if, then” statements such as if “squiggle” then “squiggle”. These squiggles are actually Chinese letters. But it is clear that the man does not understand or can even write Chinese, he is just…

In the Euthyphro dilemma, Socrates poses the question, does God approve of things because they are moral or are things moral because God approves of them? The former suggests that God merely reinforces what is already intrinsically moral and that his commands are inessential to determining the nature of morality. This option does not explain the roots of morality and also presents limitations on God’s sovereignty, but the latter option also presents substantial problems as well. God, in the…

Functionalism is one of the most recent theories of mind, and as such, it has been a target of much criticism. While it is certain that functionalism is a theory that contains a number of flaws as a result of its contemporary nature, it is apparent that a lot of the criticisms it has received are misguided. The modern theory of functionalism proposes that mental states of humans should be identified by the function that those mental states sever rather than the material composition. To…