The journal was established in 1876 by the Scottish philosopher Alexander Bain (University of Aberdeen)[5] with his colleague and former student George Croom Robertson (University College London) as editor-in-chief. With the death of Robertson in 1891, George Stout took over the editorship and began a 'New Series'. Early on, the journal was dedicated to the question of whether psychology could be a legitimate natural science. In the first issue, Robertson wrote:
Now, if there were a journal that set itself to record all advances in psychology, and gave encouragement to special researches by its readiness to publish them, the uncertainty hanging over the subject could hardly fail to be dispelled. Either psychology would in time pass with general consent into the company of the sciences, or the hollowness of its pretensions would be plainly revealed. Nothing less, in fact, is aimed at in the publication of Mind than to procure a decision of this question as to the scientific standing of psychology.[6]
Throughout the 20th century, the journal was leading in the publishing of analytic philosophy. In 2015, under the auspices of its new editors-in-chief Lucy O'Brien (University College London) and Adrian William Moore (University of Oxford), it started accepting papers from all styles and schools of philosophy.
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