Are we made entirely of matter, like sticks and stones? Or do we have a soul--a nonphysical entity--where our mental lives take place? The authors Eric T. Olson and Aaron Segal begin this accessible and wide ranging debate by looking at the often-overlooked question of whether we appear in ordinary experience to be material things.

Eric T. Olson has a special interest in the metaphysical nature of human beings. He is the author of two other books: The Human Animal: Personal Identity Without Psychology (1997) and What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology (2007).

Aaron Segal is the Michael and Bella Guggenheim Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and he has published widely in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and analytic Jewish philosophy.

Foreword: Dualism and Materialism Opening Statements 1. Why I don't believe in souls 2. Why I Believe I am a Soul First Round of Replies 3. Fuzzy Edges and Amputations: Reply to Aaron Segal 4. A Sane Soul-Hypothesis and the Sane Materialist Alternative: Reply to Eric Olson Second Round of Replies 5. The Appearances and the Evidence: Reply to Aaron Segal's reply 6. Materialism is Metaphysically Messy or Morally Absurd: Reply to Eric Olson's Reply