ABSTRACT
Functionalism rejects what the identity theory says about psychological types. Functionalists hold that psychological properties are not identical with physical properties. Instead, functionalists argue that psychological types are multiply realizable. The analogy is that there may be many physical ways to build a creature that has a mind, and more than one way for a being with a mind to have this or that psychological property. Organisms other than human beings have psychological states. Some can perceive and remember and feel pain, even if they aren’t capable of all the complex thoughts and feelings that human beings can experience. Behavior provides evidence about what an agent’s mental states are, but behavior does not define what it is to be in a given mental state. Individuals have minds in virtue of the physical organization of their bodies. This, however, does not require that all the individuals who possess some psychological characteristic have some single physical characteristic in common.
