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Widely used in philosophy courses, this succinct study explores the problem of determining the relation between the body and mind. In that philosophy seeks to elucidate man’s place and action in nature, Campbell asserts that our assessment of the body-mind problem affects our perspectives on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and the natural sciences.
After discussing how the body-mind problem developed, Campbell sets forth four incompatible propositions that serve as the framework for evaluating different philosophical approaches to the problem. Among competing perspectives, he examines dualism, behaviorist theories, the causal theory of mind, and central-state epiphenomenalism. This second edition includes a chapter on functionalism and an expanded bibliography.
“[This] book is intended as an introduction to the mind-body problem, and it fulfills this task admirably. It is written clearly . . . but, most importantly, the author manages to communicate some of the intellectual excitement of doing philosophy. If anything, it is this sort of work that should be the responsible answer to the clamor for ‘relevance.’” —Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review/Revue canadienne de philosophie
Keith Campbell is emeritus professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, Australia.