Is Functionalism any significant improvement on Behaviourism?
To assess whether functionalism is any significant improvement on behaviourism we need to first consider both the theories in regard to their strengths and weaknesses. Once that has been done it will be possible to consider whether functionalism has a stronger position, or provides a better understanding of the mind, than behaviourism. Behaviourism a theory that claims that beliefs and desires are manifested by behaviour. Since mental events are not public our only indication of peoples beliefs and desires is their behaviour. For example, Sam believes that it is going to rain. From this we would anticipate that he would look for his raincoat before leaving the house. Or, conversely, his looking for his raincoat signifies that he thinks it is going to rain. It is easiest, at least for me, to define Behaviourism in two forms, psychological behaviourism and philosophical behaviourism. Psychological behaviourism springs from the problem Wittgenstein raised with his Beetle in the box analog
