title: Does a Rock Implement Every Finite-State Automaton?
creator: Chalmers, David J
subject: Philosophy of Mind
description: Putnam has argued that computational functionalism cannot serve as a foundation for the study of the mind, as every ordinary open physical system implements every finite-state automaton. I argue that Putnam's argument fails, but that it points out the need for a better understanding of the bridge between the theory of computation and the theory of physical systems: the relation of implementation. It also raises questions about the classes of automata that can serve as a basis for understanding the mind. I develop an account of implementation, linked to an appropriate class of automata, such that the requirement that a system implement a given automaton places a very strong constraint on the system. This clears the way for computation to play a central role in the analysis of mind.  
date: 1996
type: Preprint
type: PeerReviewed
format: text/html
identifier: http://cogprints.org/226/1/199708001.html
identifier:   Chalmers, David J  (1996) Does a Rock Implement Every Finite-State Automaton?  [Preprint]     
relation: http://cogprints.org/226/