In any intellectual era there are certain overriding problems that form the horizonof intellectual life. In our era the leading problem is how to account for ourcommonsense conception of ourselves as conscious, free, mindful, rationalagents in a world consisting entirely of mindless, meaningless, blind, purposelessphysical particles in fields of physical force.This problem is manifest in countless ways. How do the social sciences relate tothe natural sciences? What is the nature of mental illness and how does it relateto physical illness? Can we really discover laws of human behavior analogous tothe laws of physics? The central problem area, however, lies in the philosophyof mind. What is the nature and structure of the human mind and how does itrelate to the rest of reality? The aim of this series is to introduce the reader tosome of the leading issues in the philosophy of mind and above all to enable thereader to think about these problems for himself or herself.