This book investigates the viability of common-sense psychology as a legitimate framework for explaining human action. Emma Borg, a professor of philosophy, evaluates the challenges posed by eliminative materialism and neuroscientific reductionism to our everyday practice of attributing beliefs and desires to agents. She argues that folk psychology remains an indispensable and theoretically sound tool for understanding human behavior, defending its role against critics who claim it is an outdated or scientifically inaccurate model.

Experts in the philosophy of mind recognize this work as a rigorous defense of the explanatory power of mental states. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for scholars and advanced students of cognitive philosophy.