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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
"The argument is clear and precise, the writing lucid, the conclusions always judicious, and the author shows a firm grasp not only of the mind-body issue itself but also of the other philosophical problems into which it leads us. It is a book I shall certainly recommend to my students, though for reading at the start, not the end, of a philosophy of mind course." –Philosophical Quarterly
"Campbell is evidently one of those lucky people to whom conciseness and clarity come naturally. Not only does he set out the arguments for and against many theories of mind: he also explains in passing just how the mind-body problem connects with questions in ethics and metaphysics, and, less directly, with those of philosophy of logic and philosophy of science." –Philosophy
"This book is designed as an introductory text on the mind-body problem. As such, it is first-rate: the writing is clear and vigorous, the book coherent and full of argument. Campbell, without sacrificing the necessary amount of information...makes a coherent whole of his book by centering it on the inconsistent tetrad: The human body is a material thing; The human mind is a spiritual thing; Mind and body interact; Spirit and matter do not interact." –Australasian Journal of Philosophy
Keith Campbell is emeritus professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, Australia.