Common sense and philosophical tradition agree that mind makes a difference. What we do depends not only on how our bodies are put together, but also on what we think. Explaining how mind can make a difference has proved challenging, however. Some have urged that the project faces an insurmountable dilemma: either we concede that mentalistic explanations of behavior have only a pragmatic standing or we abandon our conception of the physical domain as causally autonomous. Although each option has its advocates, most theorists have sought a middle way that accommodates both the common-sense view of mind and the metaphysical conviction about the physical world. This volume presents a collection of new, specially written essays by a diverse group of philosophers, each of whom is widely known for defending a particular conception of minds and their place in nature. Contributors include Robert Audi, Lynne Rudder Baker, Tyler Burge, Donald Davidson, Fred Dretske, Ted Honderich,
Jennifer Hornsby, Frank Jackson, Jaegwon Kim, Brian P. McLaughlin, Ruth Garrett Millikan, H. W. Noonan, Philip Pettit, Ernest Sosa, and Robert Van Gulick.
Industry Reviews
`since its contributors are of the leading figures who deal with these issues, anyone interested in mental causation may benefit a lot from reading it.'
Amir Horowitz, Philosophia
'The essays are largely nontechnical and make an important contribution to current work in the philosophy of mind. They can benefit the work of cognitive psychologists, philosophers, and other theorists working on topics in philosophical psychology.'
P.K. Moser, Loyola University of Chicago, Choice, Sep '93
'The volume presents a quite encompassing overview on the state of the debate and is to be recommended to everyone interested in the topic.'
Martin Rechenauer, Erkenntnis 41: 1994
`Excellent collection of articles.'
Proto Soziologie
`A welcome collection of sixteen previously unpublished papers that explore the many dimensions of the questions whether, and if so how, mind matters ... Taken together, the papers represent an invigorating diversity of vantage point and assumption. They effectively display the intricacy of the interconnections amongst topics that are mishandled if taken as insulated from one another.'
Philosophical Psychology
`A welcome collection of sixteen previously unpublished papers that explore the many dimensions of the questions whether, and if so how, mind matters ... Taken together, the papers represent an invigorating diversity of vantage point and assumption. They effectively display the intricacy of the interconnections amongst topics that are mishandled if taken as insulated from one another.'
Philosophical Psychology
`Heil and Mele's extremely useful volume... Although mental causation enthusiasts will recognize most of the arguments and positions put forward in these papers, the collection is invaluable as a kind of canon, since the contributors include many of the most important parties to the debate, and collectively present nearly the full range of opinion on this topic.'
Louise M. Antony, The Philosophical Review, Vol.105 No.4
`One of the merits of a book such as Mental Causation for a psychologist ... is that it can sharpen one's appreciation of the ambiguities and hidden asumptions in the psychological investigation of mind and behavior ... this volume contains strong defenses of the legitimacy of mentalistic explanations of behavior in scientific psychology.'
Peter A. White, University of Wales College of Cardiff
`a welcome collection of sixteen previously unpublished papers that explore the many dimensions of the questions whether, and if so how, mind matters ... the papers represent an invigorating diversity of vantage point and assumption. They effectively display the intricacy of the interconnections amongst topics that are mishandled if taken as insulated from one another.'
John Bricke, University of Kansas
