The Ontology of Mind Events, Processes, and States [Hardcover]

Helen Steward puts forward a radical critique of the foundations of contemporary philosophy of mind, arguing that it relies too heavily on insecure assumptions about the sorts of things there are in the mind--events, processes, and states. She offers a fresh investigation of these three categories, clarifying the distinctions between them, and argues that the category ofstatehas been very widely and seriously misunderstood.

Steward's carefully constructed argument challenges the long-standing core assumptions of identity theoriests as well as the more recent assumptions of eliminativists and functionalists. Steward's text should be required reading for anyone with a serious interest in understanding the implications of assumptions that may have been taken for granted for far too long. --Choice