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Polity’s What is Philosophy? series
Stephen Hetherington, What is Epistemology? Tom McClelland, What is Philosophy of Mind?
Dean Rickles, What is Philosophy of Science? James P. Sterba, What is Ethics?
Charles Taliaferro, What is Philosophy of Religion?
What is Philosophy of Mind?
Tom McClelland
polity
Copyright © Tom McClelland 2021
The right of Tom McClelland to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2021 by Polity Press
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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3878-2
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McClelland, Tom, author.
Title: What is philosophy of mind? / Tom McClelland.
Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA, USA : Polity Press, 2021. | Series: What is philosophy? | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “The most student-friendly short introduction to philosophy of mind available”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020047693 (print) | LCCN 2020047694 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509538768 | ISBN 9781509538775 (pb) | ISBN 9781509538782 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy of mind.
Classification: LCC BD418.3 .M3625 2021 (print) | LCC BD418.3 (ebook) | DDC 128/.2--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047693 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047694
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Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Pascal Porcheron at Polity Press for his invaluable guidance and to two anonymous referees for their insightful suggestions. Thanks, too, to all my students, past and present, for teaching me how to think about the philosophy of mind. I’d also like to thank Laura, Albus and Atticus for all their support. This book could not have been completed without the help of Yorkshire Tea.
1 The Mind and Its Problems
1.1 Philosophizing about the Mental
So what is philosophy of mind? Well, we all know what a mind is. Everyone has one, after all, and nothing could be more familiar to us than the contents of our own mind. Putting into words exactly what it means to have a mind can be very tricky, as can describing the different kinds of thing that happen in the mind. But we at least have some intuitive grip on the mind and on a whole host of familiar mental phenomena like perceptions, pains, beliefs, desires, emotions and intentions. We also know what philosophy is. Philosophy is the discipline that asks the big questions about life, the universe and everything. It asks metaphysical questions about the