This volume is another in the series of Blackwell Philosophy Guides. It contains
16 new essays covering a wide range of issues in contemporary philosophy of mind. Authors were invited to provide opinionated overviews of their topic and to cover the topic in any way they saw fit. This allowed them the freedom to make individual scholarly contributions to the issues under discussion, while simultaneously introducing their assigned topic. I hope that the finished product proves suitable for use in philosophy of mind courses at various levels. The volume should be a good resource for specialists and non-specialists seeking overviews of central issues in contemporary philosophy of mind. In this brief introduction I will try to explain some of the reasons why philosophy of mind seems to be such an important sub-field of philosophy. I will also explain my view of the source of the great diversity one finds within philosophy of mind.