Mind and Brain

Since its publication in 1996, many thousands of students have first encountered key issues in the philosophy of mind in the pages of Rocco J. Gennaro's introductory work, Mind and Brain: A Dialogue on the Mind-Body Problem. In this new edition, Gennaro updates and expands the work to reflect current topics and discussions.

The dialogue provides a clear and compelling overview of the mind-body problem suitable for both introductory students and those who have some background in the philosophy of mind. Topics include:

Immortality
Materialism
Descartes' "Divisibility Argument" for substance dualism
The "Argument from Introspection" for substance dualism
The main objections to dualism
The interaction between mind and brain
The relation between brain damage and the prospect of an afterlife
Parallelism and epiphenomenalism
The type/token distinction within materialism and the problem of multiple realizability
Arguments against materialism and its ability to explain consciousness
Property dualism and panpsychism
The epistemological problem of other minds
The nature of inductive knowledge
Evidence for animal consciousness
The problem of machine or robot minds
The inverted spectrum argument

Also included are a brief Introduction, a list of Study Questions designed to enhance classroom discussion and serve as a resource for the development of paper topics, a Glossary, and an Index of Key Terms.