Theory of the Mind by Aristotle - Essay Example

Functionalism, on the other hand, is a contemporary theory dealing with the mind. It is used as an alternative to behaviorism. It is based on the core idea that mental beliefs are causal to other sensory inputs and behavioral inputs. It is, therefore, different from other concepts such as Cartesian dualism and Skinnerian behaviorism (Carruthers, 1998). Therefore, the two theories are compatible in this regard as they discuss various concepts of the mind. Their thinking and philosophies are based on the fact that the mind rather than the soul. The man is defined by his relationship to an organic structure. Both theories state that it is not only humans that have souls and intrinsic principles but also beasts and plants (Carruthers, 1998).

According to Aristotle, plants have vegetative souls and these include the powers of growth, nutrition, and reproduction. Human beings, on the other hand, have additional powers of perception and locomotion and for this, they possess a sensitive soul. The existence of the sensitive soul is manifested by the fact that each animal has a sense faculty(Carruthers, 1998). Functional roles help identify mental states. There are several types of functionalism, and these include machine state functionalism, psych functionalism, analytic functionalism, Homuncular functionalism, and Mechanistic functionalism.

All these types of functionalism point to the fact that mental states are manifested in an individual system such as computers as long as the necessary system performs the required set of functions (Carruthers, 1998).