ABSTRACT
Mentality introduces a host of new puzzles into philosophy. One sort involves knowledge: how do minds know about the world? Can we know anything about other minds? These topics belong to epistemology, the part of philosophy that concerns knowledge. Philosophy of mind takes up both these epistemological topics and metaphysical topics. It is concerned with questions about selves, minds, and their interactions with bodies. If the readers like us, they will find these topics gripping precisely because they are about persons and what sorts of things they are. Puzzles about minds and persons have an existential pull that is sometimes missing from abstract philosophy. There are many ways to dive into the philosophy of mind. A good philosophical puzzle focuses on a concept or thought we tend to take for granted and shows that, on closer observation, it might not be as coherent or straightforward as it first seemed.
