Back Cover Blurb
- Of what nature is the mind? So Colin McGinn starts his first chapter, and this is his guiding question. He pursues the answer with a boldness and provocativeness rarely encountered in philosophical writing. As he explains, my aim has been to give the reader something definite and stimulating to think about, rather than to present a cautious and disinterested survey of the state of the subject.
- The Character of Mind provides a general introduction to the philosophy of mind, covering all the main topics: the mind-body problem, the nature of acquaintance, the relation between thought and language, agency, the self. In particular, Colin McGinn addresses the issue of consciousness, and the difficulty of combining the two very different perspectives on the mind that arise from introspection and from the observation of other people. His aim throughout is to identify the recalcitrant problems clearly, and to suggest fruitful approaches to their solutions, always avoiding facile answers.
- The second edition of this classic book adds three completely new chapters on consciousness, mental content, and cognitive science, bringing it abreast of current developments. A distinctive viewpoint is adopted, stressing consciousness, but the intention is still to come to grips with the underlying philosophical problems, accessibly articulating the deep difficulties we face in theorizing about the mind.
Amazon Customer Review
- McGinn sets out his stall in the introduction with words to the effect that he won't talk down to his audience. This is a commendable sentiment. Unfortunately in McGinn's hands what this turns out to mean is that he'll write in as incomprehensible fashion as he can.
- His main problem (also seen in his spat with Honderich1) is arrogance, it's not appropriate to write in as technical and difficult a fashion as this in an introductory text.
- This is a real shame as he covers material on personal identity (Chap 9 – "McGinn (Colin) - The Self") that other textbooks don't tend to handle and that I needed on last year's course. I couldn't make anything2 of it, so it was useless to me.
- Avoid unless you can handle McGinn's 'style'.
In-Page Footnotes ("McGinn (Colin) - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind")
Footnote 1:
- See, for example, Link
- This references McGinn’s very negative review of Honderich’s book On Consciousness.
- It also references a negative comment I’d remembered that appeared at the end of McGinn’s review in "McGinn (Colin) - Minds & Bodies: Philosophers and Their Ideas" of "Ayer (A.J.) - The Meaning of Life", which has an Introduction by Honderich.
- I’ve had dinner with Ted Honderich twice when he spoke at the Birkbeck Philosophy society. He seemed a nice chap. On the first occasion (7th May 2002) he spoke on ‘Consciousness: The Remaining Theory?’ I can’t remember having understood the talk.
Footnote 2: As of this note (mid-Aug 2014) I’ve only read the first 8 pages of this Chapter, but it seems straightforward enough to me; but, maybe this just shows how far I’ve come since my undergraduate days.
Book Comment
Oxford University Press, Second Edition, 1999 reprint. Nice new paperback
"McGinn (Colin) - Acquaintance With Things"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - Action"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - Cognitive Science"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - Consciousness"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - Content"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - Mental Phenomena"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - Mind and Body"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - The Character of Mind: Preface(s)"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - The Place of the Philosophy of Mind"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - The Self"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
"McGinn (Colin) - Thought and Language"
Source: McGinn - The Character of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)