Perhaps even harder than coming up with a new theory of mind is saying something new and important about older theories of mind. This Polger does with remarkable clarity. His book should challenge philosophers of mind to wonder why they ever thought functionalism could serve as an adequate theory of mind while the identity theory could not. -- Lawrence Shapiro, Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison Tom Polger's Natural Minds is the latest -- and a welcome and important -- addition to the surging chorus of voices urging a more serious and rigorous form of physicalism as against the orthodox nonreductive varieties. Polger argues for his claims effectively and innovatively, and with admirable clarity. Especially noteworthy are his insightful discussions of functionalism, the concept of 'realization,' and the merits of the identity theory, or type physicalism, vis-a-vis functionalism. Strongly recommended to anyone with a serious interest in the metaphysics of the mind. -- Jaegwon Kim, Brown University
Thomas W. Polger is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Cincinnati.
The book samples extensively the current gamut of views on the
embodiment of consciousness, including a chapter-long rebuttal of
some arguments about zombies due to Daniel Dennett. No doubt many
of the issues remain unsettled, but this book should give
mind-brain identity theory a new lease on life.
*Colin Beer, The Quarterly Review of Biology*
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