In this entertaining talk, philosopher Dr. Jack Lyons outlines his version of functionalism and asks the audience if they really do need a brain.

Dr. Jack Lyons is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He works mainly in epistemology, cognitive science and philosophy of mind. Recent projects concern various issues in the foundations of cognitive science, including modularity, the nature of representation, multiple realizability and the recent neoreductionist movement in the philosophy of mind. Most of his current work has involved the epistemology of perception. He has published several journal articles on epistemology and philosophy of psychology/cognitive science and has a recent book on Oxford University Press, entitled "Perception and Basic Beliefs." He is an associate editor for the journal Episteme: A Journal of Individual and Social Epistemology.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx.