Rating: 
Summary: one of the best books in philosophy of mind
Review: This is an incredibly important book, as it cogently & decisively challenges a view of mind that is something of a received dogma in philosophy of mind, namely, materialism/physicalism. Chalmers is machine-like in tearing down the superficially strong but ultimately weak arguments from the materialist side. Any impartial reader will come to the conclusion that something is very wrong w/ materialism; the only ones who will deny this are those in the hold of the dogma themselves.Reading through the other reviews here, I have noticed several criticisms the indicate that the reviewer did not read the book in its entirety. For example, one review complains that Chalmers does not recognize the difference between conceivability & possibility, when it fact a significant chunk of the book is devoted to exactly that distinction, w/ Chalmers making it quite clear why the distinction is irrelevant to his argument. One methodological advantage of the book, by the way, is that it is readable by people w/ all levels of philosophical background. Sections that are largely technical are marked w/ an *, and the book is structured so that these sections can be skipped w/o losing the main story & argument of the book. Beware, however, of attempting to critique Chalmers' view on technical philosophical grounds without reading the * sections (as the reviewer mentioned above seems to). Anyway, this is a well-written, important book by one of the most interesting & exciting philosophers around. Anyone interested in philosophy of mind or cognitive science will do well to own it.
Rating: 
Summary: Mental acrobatics on display!
Review: What I find interesting about all the work done on the Mind/Body problem is the amazing amount of effort these philosophers are willing to expend in order to account for consciousness in purely natural terms. It is as though they fear that they may come too close to an admission of the soul. Terms like 'naturalistic duality' indicate to me the desire of what I expect are atheists and other stripes of materialist to account for what is easily accounted for in a Biblical world view: Human beings are body, mind, and soul. The soul (incorporeal) acts upon the body (a part, the brain which is corporeal), giving rise to mind which then has its foundation in both the corporeal and incorporeal. In this way, human beings have genuine free will. In the materialist explainations of human conciousness, the bottom line remains the same: human beings are non-autonomous drones subject to physical law and neuro-chemistry, and nothing more. Free will is but an illusion the results of which are human action and the appearance of decisions. It is of course interesting that the human being can be decieved in such a way both internally and externally. Of course, the implications for any kind of ethical or moral standard are to be examined as well. In the end, any attempt to account for consciousness in purely natural terms will fall flat, and leave readers longing for a more cogent explaination. Until they recognize God as the First Cause and the Father of all human beings, they will continue to struggle in the dark for an answer that will never be had. Of course, they all have faith in man's scientific endeavour, and for that they must be commended. We all have faith in something!
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