Functionalism is a theory in contemporary philosophy of mind, designed to provide a solution to behaviorism and identity theory, but more importantly, a solution to the mind/body problem . In this essay, I will discuss the theory of functionalism and the solution it offers to solving the mind/body problem. The mind/body problem examines the relationship between the mind and physical matter, more specifically the relationship between consciousness and the brain that other theories of the mind have failed to account for. Solutions to the mind-body problem attempt to explain the subjective experience of an objective physical world. Functionalist theory holds that the condition for being in a mental state should be given by the functional role of that state, that is, in terms of standard causality. relationships, rather than by the supposed intrinsic functions of this State (Honderich, 1995). The role is normally visualized as being specified in terms of the mental states that typically produce it and the other behavioral states and outcomes that will typically be produced by it when the state interacts with other mental states and perceptual inputs (Honderich, 1995). For example; Different pains that we experience are normally caused by some sort of sustained bodily harm and tend to result in avoidance behavior (Routlege, 2000). The theory coined by David Armstrong and Hilary Putnam improves on behaviorism because it identifies that behavior results from mental states. , this allows the term for the condition, for example “S's pain”, to refer to a real condition that has a functional role (Honderich, 1995). The first formulation of a functionalist theory of mind was proposed by Putnam, it was inspired by the thought of mind in relation...... middle of paper ......ates, means that the mind is multi-realizable in not only biological living organisms, as previously stated, but within non-biological systems such as computers, as Putnam argues. That a silicon-based machine, like my Apple computer, can live a kind of mental life similar to the one I experience every day. This assumes that it has some sort of functioning cognitive system so that it plays real causal/functional roles. This is not to say that humans are machines that operate in response to what we are programmed to do, but rather that the mind shares a relationship with its material embodiments, as a computer does with software. It is the fundamental part of the functionalist solution to the mind-body problem, in its ability to make logical sense of both the causal and relational nature of the mind while avoiding the mind-body problem.