Jennifer Radden has written an exceedingly rich and interesting treatise on some very complicated issues in the philosophy of mind and psychiatry. There are very few authors in the world who share her deep scholarship in such diverse disciplines as psychiatry, abnormal psychology, philosophy and legal science, and even fewer who can present their results in such an elegant and easily readable way. Radden's work is an important contribution to the philosophical and scientific understanding of divided and multiple minds, and it has many implications both for the therapy of a person with a divided mind and for the ethical and legal judgement of such a person's actions.
Lennart Nordenfelt, Professor of the Department of Health and Society, Linkoping University Linkoping, Sweden
Divided Minds and Successive Selves offers a remarkable three-way synthesis of descriptive psychopathology, philosophy of mind and ethics. authoritative, rigorously argued, richly illustrated and sensitively presented, this is no mere bestiary of fragmented and multiple selves. Jennifer Radden's penetrating insights help us to make sense of our reactions to the bewildering and often distressing phenomena of extreme to the rapidly growing literature on philosophy and mental health. It deserves to become a classic.
K.W.M. Fulford, Professor of Philosophy and Mental Health, University of Warwick
I don't need all the fingers on one hand to count the authors who could have done what Jennifer Radden does so marvelously in this book. Her sensitive understanding of mental abnormalities approaches that of a skilled clinician, and her dexterous reshaping of philisophical concepts to elucidate these is a delight to follow. It is rare indeed that one finds the twin talents of an insightful student of mental disorders and a well-grounded philosophical thinker in a single writer. Radden is such a writer.
Osborne Wiggins, Professor of Philosophy, Associate in Surgery, University of Louisville
Jennifer Radden brings a sensitive eye for clinical data and a bold philosophical inventiveness to the moral implications of dramatically fractured selves. The book is a first-class fusion of philisophy with psychopathology: stimulating, challenging, and probing. It should be read and admired by professionals and students in a number of different fields.
George Graham, Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Radden's book is well organized and impressively comprehensive, and her scholarship and command of the literature are superb. No other work deals so extensively or so thoughtfully with the issues Radden addresses.
Stephen Braude, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Divided Minds and Successive Selves offers a remarkable three-way synthesis of descriptive psychopathology, philosophy of mind and ethics. Authoritative, rigorously argued, richly illustrated and sensitively presented, this is no mere bestiary of fragmented and multiple selves. Jennifer Radden's penetrating insights help us to make sense of our reactions to the bewildering and often distressing phenomena of extreme personal change. Her book will make a timely and original contribution to the rapidly growing literature on philosophy and mental health. It deserves to become a classic.
Bill Fulford, Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick
What right have you to choose the fate of your future self, a person who may not share your current aspirations and attitudes at all? Just who do you think you are? The most important—and confusing—decisions of your life depend on how you answer this philosophical question, and Radden's book organizes a wealth of relevant psychological information and philosophical analysis into a position of admirable and persuasive clarity. Seldom does philosophical thinking have so direct and beneficial an impact on real life dilemmas—dilemmas we all must face sooner or later.
Daniel C. Dennett, Director, Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University