Joscha Bach says that, for a functionalist, an object is a mental construct used to describe how the universe will evolve differently in its environment when the object is present, rather than a hidden essence.

“They are ways in which reality changes. So basically, to a functionalist, an object is not some kind of hidden essence that reveals itself to you. Instead, the object is a construct, and this construct has been made by a mind, and the mind has constructed it to explain or to make the claim that when this object is present, the evolution of the universe is going to change in this particular way in its environment, right?”