In This Selection Churchland Examines Functionalism and the Two Prominent

question 4

True/False

In this selection Churchland examines functionalism and the two prominent versions of materialism in philosophy of mind. Reductivism claims that there is an identity of mental states with brain states. Functionalism rejects any one-to-one correlation between mental types and physical types and concentrates on the relationship between inputs and outputs. For example, the mental event of pain could be similar in two beings that have altogether different types of bodies and brains. Most functionalists are materialists, but someone could be a functionalist and be a nonmaterialist. Eliminative materialism is more radical than either of these other theories and seeks to eliminate "folk psychology"-talk of beliefs, feelings, and perceptions-in favor of more scientific descriptions of what is going on in the brain. Churchland concludes that the truth may be a combination of the two materialist theories, although the evidence points more in the direction of eliminativism.
-Smart contends that mental states are identical to physical brain states.

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Definitions:

Transference

In psychotherapy, the process by which emotions originally associated with a significant person in an individual's life are unconsciously transferred to the therapist.

Freud

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology.

Resistance

The act of opposing or standing against something, which can refer to physical opposition, disease immunity, or refusal to accept social norms.

Unconscious Conflicts

Internal struggles, often stemming from childhood, that reside outside of conscious awareness but influence behavior and emotions.