Philosophy of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction

By John Heil

Book Overview

This popular coursebook offers an accessible introduction to issues in the philosophy of mind, including the mind-body problem, causal interactions between the mental and the physical, computational models of thought, and assorted -isms, including: behaviorism, dualism, eliminativism, emergentism, functionalism, materialism, neutral monism, and panpsychism.

Updates to the Fifth Edition include a new chapter on artificial intelligence (AI) and a revised chapter on eliminativism, externalism, and extended mind. In addition, Chapter Summaries and five Discussion Questions now appear at the end of each chapter to highlight key concepts and facilitate meaningful classroom dialogues.

The aim of the Fifth Edition, however, remains the same as the previous four: to offer a clear and engaging, relevant, and metaphysically grounded introduction to philosophy of mind. Philosophy majors and other advanced undergraduate students will, after finishing this book, have a solid grasp of problems central to this field and know where to turn next for the most promising avenues of further inquiry.

Key Updates to the Fifth Edition

A chapter on Davidson's 'radical interpretation' has been replaced by a chapter on artificial intelligence, reflecting a growing interest in this area New sections on 'content externalism' and the 'extended mind' have been added to the chapter on eliminativism Revisions to all existing chapters, with the addition or expansion of important topics and the elimination of some less relevant material, make the book more reader-friendly without sacrificing rigor and accuracy New Chapter Summaries and Discussion Questions appear after each chapter to cultivate productive student dialogue in the classroom Updates to Suggested Reading lists at the end of each chapter and the Reference list at the back of the book

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1041053754
• ISBN13: 9781041053750
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

It Usually Begins With Descartes

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND is one of Routledge's "Contemporary Introduction to Philosophy" series. Although there are other similar series, this is my favorite because the contributions are particularly comprehensive.Professor Heil's work is no exception. This book takes as its point of departure (like most such works it seems) Descartes' approach to the mind/body problem. Prof. Heil then discusses important philosophical and psychological approaches (Watson and Skinner, for example) to the philosophy of mind.The work discusses some of the questions that are often left out of introductory works on the topic, such as artificial intelligence and biological evolution. This book can be used by someone who is a beginner, or someone who is familiar with the basic issues in philosophy but wishes to get a better understanding of the issues. I've just finished reading Stanley Jaki's BRAIN, MIND AND COMPUTERS which discusses many of these issue from a broader theological and philosophical perspective. I think the books complement each other quite well.