A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind

The Philosophy of Mind is one of the fastest-growing areas in philosophy, not least because of its connections with related areas of psychology, linguistics and computation. This is an alphabetically arranged reference guide to the subject, firmly rooted in philosophy of mind, but with a number of entries that survey adjacent fields of interest. The book is introduced by the editor's ''Essay on Mind'', which serves as an overview of the subject, and is closely referenced to the entries in the Companion. Among the entries themselves are several ''self-profiles'' by leading philosophers in the field, including Chomsky, Davidson, Dennett, Dretske, Fodor, Lewis, Searle and Stalnaker, in which their own positions within the subject are articulated. In some more complex areas, more than one author has been invited to write on the same topic, giving a polarity of viewpoint within the book's overall coverage. Thirty-five or so main entries form the heart of the book, but in addition many of the specialist terms within the field are glossed in a series of shorter, focused articles