ABSTRACT
For three centuries philosophical inquiry has focused particularly on two questions about minds: What kind of things are minds? and How do minds relate to bodies? In this chapter and in chapter 6, I explore the major positions philosophers have advanced to answer these questions. My discussion generally follows the historical order in which these positions were developed because later positions were often put forward to overcome difficulties thought to confront earlier positions. One should not conclude from this that the positions discussed earlier are of only historical interest, however, because each position still has active advocates both amongst philosophers and practitioners of various of the cognitive sciences. I begin this chapter with a discussion of mind-body du alism, which has served as a major foil for those developing alternative positions. I also examine philosophical behaviorism, which constitutes one of the earliest attempts to avoid dualism and integrate mental phenomena into the physical universe.
