Mindsight: Image, Dream, Meaning
This book contains the most innovative and important work that Colin McGinn has done in the course of his distinguished career. It has the potential to be an extraordinarily influential book, and to create, almost single-handedly, a new area of systematic study in analytic philosophy of mind: the philosophy of the imagination. Work done in this new area could provide a foundation for work done in many other areas, including the epistemology of perception, the metaphysics of intentionality, the scientific understanding of dreaming, psychosis, and the creativity of our linguistic abilities. (Ram Neta, Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina)McGinn's book is first rate, manifesting all the qualities of incisive argument, original thought and clear, direct, lively, pithy writing for which he is celebrated. (Malcolm Budd, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, University College London)[An] innovative little book...McGinn leads us to speculation far more stimulating, far more imaginative, than most of what passes for evolutionary psychology...It is rare and wonderful to end a book with a new idea. (Ian HackingNew York Review of Books2005-04-07)Written in a lively style, Colin McGinn'sMindsightis a philosophical investigation of the faculty of imagination that will appeal to a wide audience...Mindsightwill be essential reading for philosophers with an interest in the imagination...It will also amply reward any reader with an interest in the mechanisms of the mind. (Phil JoyceScience2005-05-20)[A] splendid book about the imagination...This interesting and gracefully written book serves as a counterexample to the claim that analytic philosophy is dry, technical, and boring. Readers will find it enjoyable and should learn a lot from it. (D. HaugenChoice2005-04-01)