Susan Schneider

The mind-body problem is the central problem of the field of philosophy of mind. It is the problem of whether the mind, and thought, are ultimately physical, or if a complete theory of the mind demands resources that outrun the domain of science. Metaphysics is a subfield of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality. The mind-body problem is clearly a metaphysical problem, and philosophy of mind originally grew out of metaphysics. But ironically, many current solutions to the problem are disconnected from commonly accepted ideas in contemporary metaphysics. The aim of this project is to rule out many of the popular solutions to the mind-body problem because they lack solid metaphysical credentials, and to develop a more plausible, metaphysically well-grounded, solution.