Matters of the Mind

InMatters of the Mind, William Lyons presents a popular and authoritative account of the very dramatic shifts of viewpoint in thinking about the mind in philosophy. Lyons gives us the perfect introduction to the philosophy of the mind by chronicling over a century of discussion in a highly readable style, presenting arguments within their historical, philosophical, and scientific contexts. Moving from the behaviorists' attack on Cartesianism, through the materialist and then the functionalist positions, and on to the "hard problem" of the relationship of brain states to consciousness,Matters of the Mindprovides a fascinating story of the crucial debates about the nature of mind in our time.

Williom Lyons is Professor of Moral Philosophy and Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin