The Mechanical Mind

Since its first publication in 1995, The Mechanical Mind has introduced thousands of people to some of the most important ideas in contemporary philosophy of mind. Accessible to anyone interested in the mechanisms of our minds, it is essential reading for those studying philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, or cognitive psychology.

Tim Crane is Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He is the author of The Objects of Thought, Aspects of Psychologism, Elements of Mind, the editor of The Contents of Experience, General Editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the Philosophy Consultant Editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

Preface to the third edition 1. Introducing the mechanical mind 2. The puzzle of representation 3. Mental representation 4. Understanding thinkers and their thoughts 5. Common-sense psychology and science 6. Computation and representation 7. Can a computer think? 8. Mechanisms of thought 9. Explaining mental representation 10. The mechanical mind and its biological basis 11. The extent of the mind 12. A non-reductive approach 13. Consciousness and the mechanical mind. Index