Book Review- Goldman, Simulating Minds: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading

Alvin I. Goldman, Simulating Minds: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading, 2006, Oxford University Press, 376pp., $35.00 (cloth), ISBN 0195138924.

Reviewed by Peter Carruthers, University of Maryland


In Simulating Minds, Alvin Goldman provides a systematic development and defense of a simulationist account of our mind-reading capacities, drawing on a rich and varied body of research in psychology and neuroscience. (The basic idea of simulationism is that we often come to attribute a mental state to someone by first undergoing a similar mental process in ourselves, the outcome of which is introspected and then attributed to the other person.) This is interdisciplinary philosophizing at its best: it is clear, it is careful, it is insightful, it examines arguments critically and draws relevant distinctions, and it synthesizes a wide range of empirical data. It should be read by anyone with an interest in mind-reading.