Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars

Author: Willem A. DeVries

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-12-18

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1317494121

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Wilfrid Sellars (1912-89) has been called "the most profound and systematic epistemological thinker of the twentieth century" (Robert Brandom). He was in many respects ahead of his time, and many of his innovations have become widely acknowledged, for example, his attack on the "myth of the given", his functionalist treatment of intentional states, his proposal that psychological concepts are like theoretical concepts, and his suggestion that attributions of knowledge locate the knower "in the logical space of reasons". However, while many philosophers have begun to acknowledge Sellars's inspiration in their work, their interpretation of his thought has not always been the most accurate. His writings are difficult. Individually, his essays are complex and sometimes rely on doctrines and arguments he put forward elsewhere. Each of his articles is deepened and strengthened by seeing it in its systematic context, but he never wrote a unified exposition of his system, which therefore has to be pieced together from numerous disparate sources. Willem deVries addresses these difficulties specifically and provides a careful reading and remarkable overview of Sellars's systematic philosophy that will become the standard point of reference for all philosophers seeking to understand Sellars's hugely significant body of work.

Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars

Author: James O'Shea

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2007-04-23

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0745630022

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The work of the American philosopher Wilfrid Sellars continues to have a significant impact on the contemporary philosophical scene. His writings have influenced major thinkers such as Rorty, McDowell, Brandom, and Dennett, and many of Sellars basic conceptions, such as the logical space of reasons, the myth of the given, and the manifest and scientific images, have become standard philosophical terms. Often, however, recent uses of these terms do not reflect the richness or the true sense of Sellars original ideas. This book gets to the heart of Sellars philosophy and provides students with a comprehensive critical introduction to his lifes work. The book is structured around what Sellars himself regarded as the philosophers overarching task: to achieve a coherent vision of reality that will finally overcome the continuing clashes between the world as common sense takes it to be and the world as science reveals it to be. It provides a clear analysis of Sellars groundbreaking philosophy of mind, his novel theory of consciousness, his defense of scientific realism, and his thoroughgoing naturalism with a normative turn. Providing a lively examination of Sellars work through the central problem of what it means to be a human being in a scientific world, this book will be a valuable resource for all students of philosophy.

Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind
Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind

Author: Wilfrid Sellars

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1997-03-25

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780674251540

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The most important work by one of America's greatest twentieth-century philosophers, Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind is both the epitome of Wilfrid Sellars' entire philosophical system and a key document in the history of philosophy. First published in essay form in 1956, it helped bring about a sea change in analytic philosophy. It broke the link, which had bound Russell and Ayer to Locke and Hume--the doctrine of "knowledge by acquaintance." Sellars' attack on the Myth of the Given in Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind was a decisive move in turning analytic philosophy away from the foundationalist motives of the logical empiricists and raised doubts about the very idea of "epistemology." With an introduction by Richard Rorty to situate the work within the history of recent philosophy, and with a study guide by Robert Brandom, this publication of Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind makes a difficult but indisputably significant figure in the development of analytic philosophy clear and comprehensible to anyone who would understand that philosophy or its history.

The Ethics of Wilfrid Sellars
The Ethics of Wilfrid Sellars

Author: Jeremy Randel Koons

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-12-07

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1351781170

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Wilfrid Sellars’s ethical theory was rich and deeply innovative. On Sellars’s view, moral judgments express a special kind of shared intention. Thus, we should see Sellars as an early advocate of an expressivism of plans and intentions, and an early theorist of collective intentionality. He supplemented this theory with a sophisticated logic of intentions, a robust theory of the categorical validity of normative expressions, a subtle way of reconciling the cognitive and motivating aspects of moral judgment, and much more—all within a strict nominalism that preserves Sellars’s commitment to naturalism. The Ethics of Wilfrid Sellars offers the first systematic treatment of this sadly-neglected aspect of Sellars’s work, and demonstrates that his ethical theory—just like his more widely-discussed epistemology—has much to contribute to current debates.

In the Space of Reasons
In the Space of Reasons

Author: Wilfrid Sellars

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 9780674024984

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Sellars (1912-1989) was, in the opinion of many, the most important American philosopher of the second half of the twentieth century. This collection, coedited by Sellars's chief interpreter and intellectual heir, should do much to elucidate and clearly establish the significance of this difficult thinker's vision for contemporary philosophy.

Wilfrid Sellars: Fusing the Images
Wilfrid Sellars: Fusing the Images

Author: Jay F. Rosenberg

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2007-09-13

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0191568740

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Wilfrid Sellars was and remains one of the most prominent and important twentieth-century philosophers: his writings played a key role in shaping the philosophical agenda in the English-speaking world during the second half of the 20th century, and they remain an active focus of intense critical attention and lively discussion. Jay Rosenberg studied under Sellars in the early 1960s, was continuously engaged with his work for over forty years, and was widely regarded both as its foremost expositor and as one of Sellars' truest disciples. This was the last book that Rosenberg completed before his death at the age of only sixty-five. In it he gathers previously published studies of the central elements and implications of Sellars' philosophy, along with three new essays that further highlight and articulate the significance of his work, both historically and with respect to contemporary debates.

The Metaphysics of Perception
The Metaphysics of Perception

Author: Paul Coates

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-09-12

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1134453159

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This book is an important study in the philosophy of the mind; drawing on the work of philosopher Wilfrid Sellars and the theory of critical realism to develop a novel argument for understanding perception and metaphysics.

Wilfrid Sellars, Idealism, and Realism
Wilfrid Sellars, Idealism, and Realism

Author: Patrick Reider

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-11-17

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1474238955

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Wilfrid Sellars, Idealism, and Realism is the first study of its kind to address a range of realist and idealist views inspired by psychological nominalism. Bringing together premier analytic realists and distinguished defenders of German idealism, it reveals why psychological nominalism is one of the most important theories of the mind to come out the 20th century. The theory, first put forward by Wilfrid Sellars, argues that language is the only means by which humans can learn the types of socially shared practices that permit rationality. Although wedded to important aspects of German idealism, Sellars' theory is couched in bold realist terms of the analytic tradition. Those who are sympathetic to German idealism find this realist's appropriation of German idealism problematic. Wilfrid Sellars, Idealism and Realism thus creates a rare venue for realists and idealists to debate the epistemic outcome of the mental processes they both claim are essential to experience. Their resulting discussion bridges the gap between analytic and continental philosophy. In providing original and accessible chapters on psychological nominalism, this volume raises themes that intersect with numerous disciplines: the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics. It also provides clarity on arguably the best available account of why humans can reason, be self-aware, know, and act as agents.

From Empiricism to Expressivism
From Empiricism to Expressivism

Author: Robert Brandom

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2015-01-06

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0674187288

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Wilfrid Sellars ranks as one of the leading critics of empiricism—a philosophical approach to knowledge that seeks to ground it in human sense experience. Robert Brandom clarifies what Sellars had in mind when he talked about moving analytic philosophy from its Humean to its Kantian phase and why such a move might be of crucial importance today.

Wilfrid Sellars and the Foundations of Normativity
Wilfrid Sellars and the Foundations of Normativity

Author: Peter Olen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-10-13

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 113752717X

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While Wilfrid Sellars’ philosophy is often depicted in an ahistorical fashion, this book explores the consequences of placing his work in its historical context. In order to show how Sellars’ early publications depend on contextual factors, Peter Olen reconstructs the conceptions of language, psychological, and social explanation that dominated American philosophy in the early 20th century. Because of Sellars’ differing explanations of language and behaviour, Olen argues that many of Sellars’ early commitments are incompatible with his later works. In the course of doing so, Olen highlights problematic tensions between Sellars’ early and later conceptions of language, meta-philosophy, and normativity. Supplementing the main text is a collection of previously unpublished archival material from Wilfrid Sellars, Gustav Bergmann, Everett Hall, and other early 20th century philosophers. This text will be a useful resource to those with an interest in the history of American philosophy, the history of analytic philosophy, Wilfrid Sellars’ philosophy, and the myriad issues surrounding normativity and language.