Essays on the Concept of Mind in Early-Modern Philosophy

Book excerpt: An important task for every major philosopher is to offer us an understanding of the nature of mind. The essays in this volume discuss different aspects of the philosophical theories of mind put forward in the century and a half that followed Descartes’ Meditations of 1641. These years, often referred to as the ‘early-modern’ period, are probably unparalleled for originality and diversity in conceiving the mind. The volume not only includes two essays on Descartes’ own thinking, but there are also examinations of what Spinoza, Malebranche, Locke, Berkeley, Reid, the Cambridge Platonists, and others, have to say about the nature of mind. The aim of the volume is to represent some of the best contemporary research and reflection on mind in early-modern philosophy. The contributors, who teach at a range of universities in mainland Europe, Great Britain and North America, are Margaret Atherton, Miran Božovič, Petr Glombíček, Boris Hennig, James Hill, Nicholas Jolley, Jan Palkoska, G. A. J. Rogers, and Anthony Savile. All the essays appear here for the first time.