The Philosophy of Mind: Classical Problems/Contemporary Issues

by Brian Beakley

Bringing together the best classical and contemporary writings in the philosophy of mind and organized by topic, this anthology allows readers to follow the development of thinking in five broad problem areas - the mind/body problem, mental causation, associationism/connectionism, mental imagery, and innate ideas - over 2500 years of philosophy. The writings range from Plato and Descartes to Fodor and the PDP research group, showing how many of the current concerns in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science are firmly rooted in history. The editors have provided helpful introductions to each of the main sections.

Brian Beakley is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Eastern Illinois University. Peter Ludlow is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at SUNY, Stony Brook.

Readings Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Nicolas Malebranche, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Henry Huxley, William James, Oswald Kulpe, John Watson, jean Piaget, Gilbert Ryle, U. T. Place, Hilary Putnam, Daniel Dennett, Donald Davidson, Jerry Fodor, Roger Shepard, Jacqueline Metzler, Saul Kripke, Ned Block, Noam Chomsky, Stephen Kosslyn, Zenon Pylyshyn, Patricia Churchland, James McClelland, David Rumelhart, Geoffrey Hinton, Paul Smolensky, Seymour Papert.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

449 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1992

Reviews

[Brian Beakley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights: Leibniz making Searle's argument in the early 1700s; Auguste Comte as a mid-1800s eliminativist; selections from J.G. Spurzheim's 1830 treatise on the modularity of mind; C.I. Lewis on qualia and a functional role theory of mental content; and, of course, Elliot Sober's takedown of Jaegwon Kim's "causal exclusion" argument(s).

Note: Peter Ludlow is co-editor of this book.

[Megan]

face... or ass? your call.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unbeatable anthology of consciousness