Galen Strawson is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York, and Professor of Philosophy at Reading University, UK. Prior to that he was Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Jesus College, Oxford (1987-2000). He has held visiting positions at the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University (1993), New York University (1997), and Rutgers University (2000). Strawson received his degrees from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford and studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (rue d'Ulm) and the Sorbonne (1977-8). He is also Philosophy editor at the Times Literary Supplement.

"The main appeal of the book...lies in the lively and undoubtedly intelligent contrarianism of its author, who provides abundant challenges to widely?held views, especially in the philosophy of mind, and in his large philosophical ambitions."-- Andrew Melnyk, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews