##  [Functionalism](/index.php/functionalism) 

  ##  [Functionalism](https://humanitites.quantumdictionary.io/functionalism-0) 

  

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**Humanities & Arts Dictionary**

 







 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Definition

A theory (in philosophy of mind and in social theory) that identifies mental states or social roles by their causal, systemic, or functional relations—what they do and how they contribute to larger systems—rather than by the particular physical substrate that instantiates them.