Founded in 1876, the original series of MIND ran for fifteen years before G. F. Stout succeeded George Croom Robertson as Editor in 1891 and began the New Series. He maintained continuity with the earlier issues of the journal; and throughout its history MIND has been dedicated to an impartial and catholic approach: 'the expression of all that is most original and valuable in current English thought, without predilection for any special school or any special department...', a sentiment which has animated each of the subsequent editors.

In its earliest years MIND was privately supported, first by Alexander Bain, who had founded the periodical and installed Robertson as Editor, and then by Henry Sidgwick. On his death and at his suggestion, a Mind Association was formed to ensure the journal's financial security.

G. F. Stout (1860-1944) was Editor of MIND from 1891 to 1920. He was reader in mental philosophy at Oxford, before going to St. Andrews in 1903 as Professor of Logic and Metaphysics; his best known books are A Manual of Psychology and Mind and Matter which helped to introduce Brentano’s ideas into English philosophy and to challenge existing conceptions of the mind. He is also well known for his conception of abstract particulars, often now called ‘tropes’.

From 1921 to 1947 MIND was edited by G. E. Moore (1873-1958) whose work affected that of nearly all British philosophers in the interwar years. He was Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge from 1925 until 1939. His most famous book is Principia Ethica, but he is equally well known for papers such as ‘A Defence of Common Sense’ and ‘Proof of an External World’.

In 1947 Moore was succeeded as editor by Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976), who taught at Christ Church, Oxford until World War II and established a reputation for his forceful articles on philosophical logic and method. He returned to Oxford as Waynflete Professor of Logic after the war and published his leading work, The Concept of Mind, in 1949.

David Hamlyn edited MIND from 1972 to 1984. He was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London until 1988. He published widely; as well as the Penguin History of Western Philosophy he wrote on Aristotle, Schopenhauer, epistemology and the philosophy of mind, especially perception.

Simon Blackburn edited MIND from 1984 to 1990. He was then Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, but left Oxford (and MIND) to become Koury Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He returned to the UK in 2001, and is now the Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge. His books include Spreading the Word, Ruling Passions and Think, an introduction to philosophy. His current work focuses on truth and representation.

Mark Sainsbury edited MIND from 1990 until 2000. He was then Stebbing Professor of Philosophy at King's College, London, having previously taught at Corpus Christi College, Oxford and the University of Essex. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Russell, Paradoxes, Logical Forms, and Departing From Frege and he is currently working on a book entitled Reference Without Referents.

Mike Martin edited MIND from 2000 until 2005. During this period he taught at University College London, becoming a Professor there in 2003. He has published important articles on perception and bodily awareness and is currently completing a book on perception.

In September 2005 Thomas Baldwin became editor of MIND.