Other Minds

This study is a comprehensive examination of the basis of the knowledge that others have minds. It insists, against the received wisdom, that no theory of mind can avoid the problem or make it easier to solve. Nor is there any way to avoid a crucial reliance on the theorist's own experience. Alec Hyslop defends a (modified) version of the traditional analogical inference to other minds and rejects alternatives, but only after subjecting each of them to a sustained, searching examination.