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Structural Functionalism Analysis

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Block has trouble with the types of functionalism that claim that there are functional states which are identical to mental states. These are called identity theses. He is arguing that Functionalism and physicalism are partners in guilt, in that they can both be said to be too liberal or too chauvinist. Thus the burden of proof is on functionalism to show that physicalism is in fact plagued with such troubles. Block has troubles with scientific functionalism (which he calls psycho functionalism) and analytic functionalism (which he calls common sense functionalism or just functionalism). Psycho functionalism bases the identity of mental states on underlying cognitive mechanisms in (scientific hypotheses about) the brain as well as the …show more content…

One way to show that Block is wrong to rely on our intuitions is to cast the same doubt on our intuitions. Intuitions are sometimes implicit criteria one has pertaining to something. Thus it would be useful to see if these criteria are reliable. To see if they are reliable we need to see if they are justified. I will attempt to dissect our intuitions by listing the criteria we might be basing our intuitive judgements …show more content…

They could all be criticized for being chauvinist or liberal, to some extent. Which means a criticism of one (functionalism)based on the other(our intuitions) without proper justification is meaningless Our intuition might tell us that some types of functionalism are too chauvinist, but we would only be assessing functionalism based on our own chauvinist assumptions. Our intuition may tell us that some types of functionalism are too liberal, but that may be because our intuition is too chauvinist. So the truth of one cannot be assessed base on criteria from another, unless those criteria are shown to be reliable .
Ned Block hasn’t found a lethal fault in functionalist theories. Our doubts only tells us our intuitions do not completely agree with functionalism, however, our intuitions are chauvinistic and unjustified, so this is not a flaw for

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All individuals have certain social roles that when working together, form society, this allows for there to be inequality amongst individuals. Functionalism also says that social order is maintained through public consensus. So, the adjustments that the public makes in response to deviant behavior, allow for change within this theory. About Mean Girls, functionalist would view all the different groups in this movie as necessary to the functionality of high school. There are many different groups in the movie, for example the lunchroom scene shows us these separate groups.

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Structural-functionalism or functionalism, are groups of individuals who advocate, or work according to the principles of functionalism. The show however, portrays behavior that is clearly not functional and could be considered dysfunctional for society. But, there are examples of groups of people or individuals who work together for the well-being of the town. For instance, Quahogs news crew which consist of anchors and reporters work together the provide news for the town. The Quahog Police Department.

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Similarly, Thomas Nagel also criticizes functionalism for its lack of accounting for qualia. Nagel argues that functionalism is invalid in asserting that the mind is a computer program and that the body is what runs the program. As mentioned earlier, functionalism reduces mental states to computational states, composed of inputs, outputs and other computational states. Nagel argues that it is incorrect to make this assumption because in order for an organism to be reduced to another thing, there can’t be the case that the reduction totally disregards what it is like to be that organism. Nagel makes his argument by considering the definitions of subjective and objective facts.

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There are three different forms of functionalism such as the analytic functionalism, physchofuctionalism and machine-state functionalism. Analytic functionalism is the most common of them all, it describes the function of a job description of mental states. The second from is physchofunctionalism in which opposes to the idea of behaviorism and saying no to the physical aspect of the mind. The last form of functionalism is the machine-state functionalism in which was founded by Hillary Putnam. Putnam was an American philosopher whose ideas were based on the apologies of mind.

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Structural Functional Theory Structural functional theory is a macro sociological theory that is based on the characteristics of structures, social patterns, social systems and institutions such as education, religion, leisure, media, economy and politics. If all these social institutions are organized and co-operate with one another around a set of core values functionalist theorists assume that the entire social system will function properly and efficiently. Society in structural functional theory has a view that it is an organized system of interrelated parts that are held together by shared values and established social arrangements that help maintain the system to be in a state of balance and equilibrium. Structural functional theory is a broad perspective in sociology and anthropology which sets out to interpret society as a structure with interrelated parts. Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions and institutions (Vibha Desai, 2013).

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