Review "In this introductory volume, Garson offers a concise summary of several debates surrounding the interface between philosophy of biology and philosophy of mind. … Written with admirable clarity and wit, this book would make a great secondary text in an upper-level philosophy of biology or philosophy of mind course. Summing Up: Recommended." - Philip Jenkins, CHOICE "In this accessible and interesting book, Justin Garson shows why philosophy matters to understanding the biology of the mind. Scientists have made great progress on questions about altruism, free will, consciousness, and the impact of genes on mental activity, but it takes a philosopher to provide the needed clarification, connection, and caution. Garson is that philosopher." - Elliott Sober, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA "Garson’s book is long overdue. Philosophers of mind need to be reminded that there is no mind without the brain, and the brain’s behavior is a matter of biology, not philosophy. At the same time naive biological reductionists must acknowledge that the complexity of mental life has no simple-minded explanation in terms of genes and natural selection. This book serves both tasks with admirable sophistication." - Sahotra Sarkar, University of Texas at Austin, USA "A wide-ranging, well-informed, and highly readable introduction to current debates in the philosophy of mind and psychology, presented through the lens of philosophy of biology and general philosophy of science. Garson's biologically oriented approach to the issues makes so much sense, one can't help but wonder why it's not more standard in the literature; by rights, it should be." - Philip Robbins, University of Missouri, USA "A wonderful, clear, lively, informative, and extremely accessible book. It is a terrific introduction to the philosophy of mind for those who want to explore the relation between our biological and psychological natures." - Karen Neander, Duke University, USA Read more About the Author Justin Garson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College, City University of New York, USA. Read more
M**T
Short and sweet
Great book. Much shorter than I realized, however but still worth a read.
G**I
A useful corrective to insufficiently biological perspectives on the mind
One of the most neglected perspectives in traditional philosophy of mind/cogsci is that the mind is a biological system, and that therefore philosophy of mind/cogsci is a branch of philosophy of biology.Fortunately, Justin Garson has just published this book, an introduction to the philosophy of mind that considers the mind as a biological system and draws insights from the philosophy of biology.The book is clear, insightful, well written, and goes way beyond a review of the literature to offer a fresh perspective on the philosophy of mind. I’ve had two paper ideas from reading it. I highly recommend it.
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