PHIL 200 : Brain-Mind Identity Theory and Functionalism

• School: McGill University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 200
• Professor: Michael Blome Tillmann

Document Summary

Note: background about dualism helps understand this topic. Mind-brain identity theory: mental state types are identical to brain state types a. k. a type identity theory". Type is like the umbrella description which has loads of categories under it. Token is a specific reference to an individual artifact which may fall under a certain type. Elephants are a token of the type mammals. Identity theory states that every mental state is a brain state but not every brain state is a mental state. There is a type identity between mental states and brain states; every token of the type mental states is a token of the type brain states. In computer terms, in an expert system, there is the knowledge base and then there is the user interface. But there has to be an inference engine with a set of rules to use the knowledge effectively.