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Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings 1st Edition

4.3 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0195145816
ISBN-10: 019514581X
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 688 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (July 25, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 019514581X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195145816
  • Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 1.3 x 7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

By Jonathan M. Knight on May 5, 2005
Format: Paperback
This is a fantastic collection compiled by David Chalmers, one of the leading philosophers of mind today. The best papers in here are "Quining Qualia" and " True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why It Works" by Dan Dennett, "The Rediscovery of Light" by Paul Churchland (all you hard-problemers out there should be forced to read at least the ending section of this paper), "What Experience Teaches" by David Lewis, "Sensations and Brain Processes" by J.J.C. Smart, "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?", and a good excerpt from "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" by Wilfrid Sellars. Non-reductive materialists and property dualists also will like this book as they are represented as well with papers from the likes of Jackson (classical paper of his is included in which he expounds the knowledge argument, "Epiphenomenal Qualia") Mcginn, Nagel, Block, Levine, and of course Chalmers himself. All in all this is a fair sampling of the competing views in the Philosophy of Mind.
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I am a computer science professor by trade, and my area of interest is artificial intelligence. This book served as the primary text for a course on the philosophy of mind that I took while I was in graduate school. This was my first experience with the world of philosophy. This is a first rate text on the subject.

From past studies of AI/CS, cognitive science, and psychology I can tell that this is an important volume. This is a collection of studies of the philosophy of mind, it is a very self-contained read. This is an important feature of this book; it assumes little to no prior knowledge about philosophy. This book was edited by David Chalmers, and is comprised of over 60 essays from prominent philosophers spanning hundreds of years.

The treatment reads much like any thorough text on psychology would. You are not just reading about the current state of the field. The book starts from the beginning--the very beginning. The first chapters start with Rene Descartes (1600s) and Thomas Huxley (1800s). This book takes you through a number of phases of the philosophy of mind. Those who are familiar with the history of psychology will find some common ground in behaviorism, functionalism, and a number of the important questions that are grappled with over the course of the book. When read sequentially you will see how various theories are established, argued, and later refuted (or at least argued against) in later work. More contemporary works include John Searle's "Can computers think?", an essay that you may have encountered in a modern course on artificial intelligence.

This is a good read for those who are interested in AI, psychology, or cognitive science.
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I required this book for a college course on this topic. I did not major in philosophy so it was a bit of a challenge to read at times. However, my professor often mentioned how it is a great selection of excerpts. I wished I would have found out earlier that there are summaries on each of the types of philosophical thinking (e.g., physicalism, behaviorism, dualism, etc.) BEFORE each of the corresponding sections. So if you are a student who is not a philosophy major and you need to read this book, I strongly advise you to read those summaries because I think they are very helpful with understanding the texts! :)
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Chalmers is one of the smartest dudes around in the "philosophy of mind" field. So how does he make this book?

He doesn't write volumes and volumes of his own work. This is meant for the reader to get a grasp of:
1) What are the key questions in philosophy of mind? What are thoughts, memories? What can we really know about our mind?
2) How influential philosophers have tried to answer these questions. MOST of the time, Chalmers will follow up with a paper by a dissenting author - offering a refutation and alterative.

If you're prescribed this for a philosophy class, don't throw it away or sell it. If you want to buy this for your own reading please: do not be daunted! Philosophy is taught by years of reading and understanding & developing argument structures. Keep reading collections like this, they're quite accessible!
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This is amazing and fascinating but if I didn't have my study guides I wouldn't have a clue. Still reading it and my mind is being expanded :-)
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A book written by philosophers for philosophers. Very dense reading, especially for a beginning student. Lots of jargon - keep a dictionary close at hand.
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By Chris H on February 17, 2015
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Obviously a great collection, recommend to anyone considering it.
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