Philosophy Of Mind (Dimensions of Philosophy) [Paperback]

Jaegwon Kim (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813307767 | ISBN-13: 978-0813307763 | Publication Date: March 14, 1996

The philosophy of mind has always been a staple of the philosophy curriculum. But it has never held a more important place than it does today, with both traditional problems and new topics often sparked by the implications of modern psychology, cognitive science, and computer science.In this concise but comprehensive survey, Jaegwon Kim explores, maps, and interprets this difficult terrain. Designed as a textbook for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, Philosophy of Mind succeeds brilliantly on these terms. But it also manages to offer riches to experienced philosophers while remaining accessible to readers new to philosophy.Focusing on the traditional mind/body problem, Kim canvasses the traditional attempts to explain the mind as soul, as certain forms of behavior, as brain, or as a type of computer as well as more recent complex attempts to meet objections raised by these accounts. The author also includes extensive coverage of the issues surrounding content and consciousness.Throughout, Kim allows readers to come to their own terms with these views. At the same time, the author’s own emerging views are on display and serve to advance the discussion. Readers of Kim’s previous work will especially welcome this aspect of the text.Comprehensive, clear, and fair, Philosophy of Mind is a model of philosophical exposition. It is a major contribution to the study and teaching of the philosophy of mind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

 

“Kim’s book is the best general survey of metaphysics of mind. It brims with arresting arguments and lucid points of exposition. Kim’s own philosophical judgment is not suppressed, but he gives sympathetic accounts of opposing views. Perhaps no other text accessible to undergraduates is so often consulted by professional philosophers. Most chapters have been augmented in this third edition, but its most distinctive feature is its expanded discussion of consciousness.” —Bernard W. Kobes, Arizona State University

 

Praise for Previous Editions:

“Like the highly acclaimed earlier edition, this book provides an extremely useful, state-of-the-art introduction to the philosophy of mind. Thanks to his incomparably lucid style, the author is able to discuss the issues at greater depth than is generally attempted in an introductory text, thus also providing a very accessible introduction to his own challenging and influential views on the mind-body problem. Really a wonderful book, useful to students and researchers alike.” —Ausonio Marras, University of Western Ontario

 

“An introductory survey to philosophy of mind, this work is impressive equally for its clarity and depth as an overview and its forcefulness as an original contribution to its subject.” —Choice

 

“I really cannot say enough about the quality of this book. It is the work of a top-flight original philosopher adept at explaining difficult issues with remarkable clarity. An admirable textbook, it represents a notable philosophical achievement as well.” —John Heil, Davidson College    

 

“Kim is one of the most influential philosophers of mind…and it is no surprise that Philosophy of Mind exemplifies the sort of clarity of exposition and familiarity with the issues we have come to expect from him….Kim’s book is an excellent work….It would contribute to a fine course in philosophy of mind.” —Philosophia Christi

 

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jaegwon Kim is William Perry Faunce Professor of Philosophy at Brown University. He is the author of Supervenience and Mind (1993) and of many important papers on the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of science.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (March 14, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813307767
• ISBN-13: 978-0813307763
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,303,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative survey of major issues in philosophy of mind, May 11, 2007

By 

Will Tanizaki (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philosophy of Mind (Dimensions of Philosophy) (Paperback)

I have a bit of an obsession with introductions to the philosophy of mind. I went a bit overboard in preparing for my Ph.D. comprehensive exam in the philosophy of mind. I have read Matter and Consciousness - Revised Edition: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, The Mechanical Mind: A Philosophical Introduction to Minds, Machines and Mental Representation, Mind: A Brief Introduction (Fundamentals of Philosophy), Philosophy of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy), Philosophy of Mind: An Overview for Cognitive Science, Introducing Persons: Theories and Arguments in the Philosophy of Mind, Gray Matters: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Mind and Cognition: An Introduction, Contemporary Philosophy of Mind: A Contentiously Classical Approach, The Character of Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind (OPUS), and a couple others. I can say that, without question, Jaegwon Kim's "Philosophy of Mind" is the finest, particularly in its revised and expanded Second Edition. It may also be the most intellectually challenging of the bunch. Out of many introductory books on the philosophy of mind, I find myself returning to this book the most.

Kim gives a thorough-going overview of contemporary philosophy of mind. He is a masterful writer with the ability to explain difficult material as simply as it can be explained without oversimplifying. There are many more basic introductions to the philosophy of mind, but Kim's is notable for its authoritativeness, its clarity of exposition, and its attention to the nuts and bolts of major philosophical arguments in the philosophy of mind.

I think the book would make an ideal companion to a rigorous undergraduate (or even graduate) introductory course in the philosophy of mind.

Kim's "Philosophy of Mind" is the kind of book that can be read profitably alongside many of the major philosophy papers written in contemporary philosophy journals. At the end of each chapter Kim provides the go-to sources for each of the ideas covered in a chapter. In that sense, the book provides the perfect jumping off point for more in-depth work in the philosophy of mind. For those outside academic philosophy, the presentation of ideas might not be the most accommodating. Despite Kim's clear writing, much of the material is complex and will involve reading and rereading carefully. One will have to review the steps in the arguments if one wants to come away from the book with a fluency in the ideas treated. Although the material is rigorous, Kim is to be credited for making accessible the kind of philosophy of mind found in contemporary philosophy journals. Much of the language could as easily be found in one of Kim's academic books or papers. So the writing can be dry at times simply because it is dense with argument.

Kim is perhaps the world expert on supervenience and mental causation, subjects dealt with in depth here, and, given the recency of publication, many of the ideas presented represent Kim's latest thinking on the problems, sometimes involving modifications of earlier positions he has advocated.

If one is interested in the intersection of cognitive science and philosophy of mind this is definitely not the book for you. More appropriate would be Andy Clark's "Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Science", Tim Crane's "The Mechanical Mind", or Churchland's "Matter and Consciousness", the last of which is particularly good at relating philosophy of mind to cognitive neuroscience, although Churchland's treatment could stand to be updated. There is no attempt by Kim to engage with empirical research in any matter whatsoever. So someone inspired by the work of, for example, Daniel Dennett in "Consciousness Explained" should definitely look elsewhere.

I am a bit surprised to read a 338 page guide to the philosophy of mind that nowhere mentions Daniel Dennett, Colin McGinn, or the Churchlands. There is also no discussion of the language of thought hypothesis. In addition, nowhere will one find discussions of personal identity or free will, which I suppose is appropriate given the aims of the book. What we find are the bare bones big topics in academic philosophy of mind: dualism, psychoneural identity theory, functionalism, mental causation, consciousness, mental content (i.e. externalism and internalism), and reductionism. If one is looking for a more accessible outsider's guide to philosophy of mind, one could do worse than Searle's "Mind: An Introduction". But if the above topics are the ones that interest you, there is no better place than Kim's book to get a grounding in them.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very lucid introduction to contrmporary philosophy of mind, January 7, 1999

By 

Gregory Klebanoff - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philosophy Of Mind (Dimensions of Philosophy) (Paperback)

Kim's work is the clearest introduction to major issues in the philosophy of mind in print. Much written in the field is convluted and Delphic in every aspect except length. This work is an excellent place to begin an examination. The chapters on functionialism are especially excellent.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to Phil of Mind, August 14, 2009

By 

Benjamin R. James Jr. (Monticello, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philosophy of Mind (Dimensions of Philosophy) (Paperback)

This is quite simply an excellent introduction to the philosophy of mind. I purchased this book for Kim's class at Brown and found it to be a very well written presentation of the relevant history of and competing arguments for all the main topics in the philosophy of mind. Of course Kim has his own argument to present and makes his case for it where appropriate but never preaches to the reader. Overall it is a very accessible text - highly recommended for anyone wondering where to start in the field.