Robert Kirk is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. His other books are Translation Determined (OUP, 1986), Raw Feeling (OUP, 1994), Relativism and Reality (Routledge, 1999), Mind and Body (Acumen, 2003), and Zombies and Consciousness (OUP, 2005).

"This is an excellent and important book. It presents a novel and resourceful conception of physicalism, and defends it with admiral rigor."--Phillip Goff, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"The book is extremely rich in detail and thorough...A crucial read..." -- Mind

"To all philosophers who think they know how to formulate physicalism I recommend the book highly; for specialists I regard it as absolutely required reading. It is packed with challenging ideas and arguments. It is also well-organized, written in an easy, almost conversational style, and, apart from an occasional tendency to excessive concision, very clear. It would make an excellent main text for a graduate seminar." -- Australasian Journal of Philosophy

"This is a substantial book, rich with thought-provoking discussion and argumentation. I recommend it to anyone interested in consciousness, the debate between dualism and physicalism, and to anyone interested in the formulation and defense of physicalism. It explores deep problems and offers a compelling take on them. Though I do not completely agree with Kirk, his ideas are worthy of thorough consideration and discussion." --Dialogue: Candadian Philosophical Review

"The book contains much that is both insightful and original; it deserves serious engagement from even the most sceptical quarters...it is refreshing to read something so unswayed by philosophical fashion...There is no space to provide even a perfunctory exposition here [of the arguments for ruling out zombies and transposed qualia]; I am confident they will be the target of critical papers and get the hearing they deserve. The more general approach to physicalism and logico-conceptual entailment here set out is more likely to be neglected by critics--but I hope it is not." -- Analysis Reviews

"The book is extremely rich in detail and thorough;...and thereby should prove a welcome read not only for those seeking an introduction to Kirk's brand of physicalism, but also to those who are independently interested in...rival accounts...overall, if Kirk is right, what we gain is a coherent worldview that not only respects our intuitions, but which is ontologically parsimonious as well. A crucial read, then, for anyone interested in such a picture." -- Mind

"What must be added to supervenience to ensure that the mental is nothing over and above the physical? Kirk's answer that mental truths must be shown to be pure redescriptions of physical truths is extremely interesting, and strikes me as on the right track...I think this is an excellent and important book. It presents a novel and resourceful conception of physicalism, and defends it with admirable rigour." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews