Philosophy of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy)
Description
When first published, John Heil's introduction quickly became a widely used guide for students with little or no background in philosophy to central issues of philosophy of mind. Heil provided an introduction free of formalisms, technical trappings, and specialized terminology. He offered clear arguments and explanations, focusing on the ontological basis of mentality and its place in the material world. The book concluded with a systematic discussion of questions the book raises--and a sketch of a unified metaphysics of mind--thus inviting scholarly attention while providing a book very well suited for an introductory course. This Third Edition builds on these strengths, and incorporates new material on theories of consciousness, computationalism, the language of thought, and animal minds as well as other emerging areas of research. With an updated reading list at the end of each chapter and a revised bibliography, this new edition will again make it the indispensable primer for anyone seeking better understanding of the central metaphysical issues in philosophy of mind.
Specifications
| Dimensions | 15.57 x 1.75 x 23.5 cm |
| Edition | 3rd |
| Isbn 10 | 0415891752 |
| Isbn 13 | 978-0415891752 |
| Item Weight | 431 g |
| Language | English |
| Print Length | 304 pages |
| Publication Date | 16 Jan. 2013 |
| Publisher | Routledge |
Reviews
User
Terrific introduction to the subject.
Lucid, highly readable, splendid introduction to the subject. I'm a layman, so it was a, shall we say, measured read for me. But Heil is brilliant at taking you through the subject without dumbing down. I really enjoyed this book.
User
Clear Introduction
A commendably clear and - as far as I can tell - comprehensive account of the current state-of-play in this most important area of thought. I salute the author's effort to keep things comprehensible.
User
Four Stars
Mostly excellent
User
Very good!
As others have said, this is a very clear introduction to the topic!
User
Very good in parts
This book is a very good introduction to philosophy of mind, in parts. As a general introduction it is very good. There are parts which explain things more clearly than any other similar textbook I have read (e.g. Kim's philosophy of mind). But it is not a deep as Kim's book and the coverage is not as thorough - for example I found nothing on anomalous monism, which I would have thought was a fairly central part of contemporary philosophy of mind. Additionally, the last two chapters, which whilst being interesting, seemed out of place. Whilst chapters 1-11 are a general unbiased introduction, chapters 12-13 are Heil's own views on philosophy of mind. I suspect this is just a personal view, but I prefer philosophy books to either contain a specific argument from the writer or to be a reference source of both sides of the main arguments in any specific area - combining the two in one book does not work for me. But you could do far worse than this book if you want a reasonably deep, yet relatively easy to get into introduction to philosophy of mind.
User
Libro straordinario
Chiarissima e affascinante panoramica sulla filosofia della mente. Peccato che il libro non esistesse all'epoca in cui ero studente universitario di filosofia...
User
Excelent introduction
Great introduction. Very clear and clever presentation.The author showed concern about the issue of the ontology of the mind.
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