Sellars, Wilfrid
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- Brilliant and rewarding
- Cave!
- deep, difficult, essential
- A difficult, controversial work in philosophy
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Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind
Wilfrid Sellars , Robert B. Brandom , and Richard Rorty
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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ASIN: 0674251555 |
Book Description
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." </p>
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. </p>
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant and rewarding.......2002-08-07
I have come back to this essay by Sellars again and again for over thirty years, and have never failed to impressed and inspired. Sellars can always get me to think at a deeper level than I'm used to. Second only perhaps to Wittgenstein in influence, Sellars is a philosopher's philosopher: understanding him requires a thorough grounding in the history of philosophy, and this essay in particular takes it for granted that you understand 20th century empricism and "sense data" theories pretty well. Even so, the writing style can be both dense and difficult, but reading it aloud can untangle any number of tricky passages. If you're not quite so well versed in history of philosophy, a similar critique can be found in J.L. Austin's "Sense and Sensibilia," which is more accessible but not nearly as profound. In the course of showing the futility of finding incorrigibile foundations for empirical knowledge in sense experience, Sellars simultaneously develops a strictly behavioristic psychology that legitimizes all the goodies, all the mental vocabulary, that folks like Skinner forbade. A tour de force unequalled in 80 years. Bob Brandom's explicatory essay is very helpful, and untwists several tricky knots in the text.
Cave!.......2000-08-09
I do not understand why it is always said that Sellars' language was so difficult. I found his philosophical style quite straight-on. Unfortunately, Sellars' main work is punctuated by some passages of superficial and/or incorrect reasoning, at which passages some may assume that they do not understand Sellars' argumentation - though it "has to be profound" (because of Sellars' reputation). The most important issue in this essay is the impossibility of reporting sense impressions without using language (with all implications that come along with that), and the repercussions of this circumstance on the philosophy of logical empiricism in its early stage (though Sellars obviously thinks his ideas impact on all forms of empiricism, which is not true). Along that line, Sellars has many good points that should be considered in the philosophy of science and in common sense reasoning, yet his reputed final dismantling of the "myth" of the given never takes place; in Sellars intentions, maybe, but his arguments are a far cry from being a stringent refutation. They are simply too superficial and too colloquial for that. (Cf. Putnam's model-theoretic arguments against realism, for a contrast.) What is really unfortunate for Sellars' essay is that, in this edition, it is framed by Rorty and Brandom. The philosophical humorist Rorty has contributed a foreword in an attempt to assimilate Sellars serious philosophical project into his radical-relativist historicizing outlook of philosophy, thus completely misleading the unknowing reader. The bright, but misguided, Brandom offers a study guide, which is no study guide, but an attempt to direct the reader at those aspects of Sellars' essay, which Brandom's own inferentialist philosophy is supposed to stem from. Unfortunately, these aspects are exactly the most questionable. So, while Sellars' essay is a profitable classic of analytic philosophy, the reader should be warned to read Rorty's foreword and Brandom's study guide cautiously and critically and to thoroughly consider, if these really reflect Sellars' essay correctly.
deep, difficult, essential.......1998-06-21
"Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" is an essential epistemological text of the twentieth century. It is difficult: each sentence is difficult. Sellars is said to have shown the existence of a private language by writing in one. The guide by Brandom does not much clarify and simplify the argument of Sellars for two reasons. It is impossible to do this. And Brandom wants to and does contribute significantly to Sellars scholarship. Sellars writes for the professional philosopher. If you plan to be such, or if you want to encounter philosophy at its most profound, you should study the book.
A difficult, controversial work in philosophy.......1998-05-23
There are two areas to comment on with regards to this printing of "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" (EPM). The first is the presentation style and the second is the content. On the presentation: Rorty's introduction is very helpful in preparing one to read the book. The large print will be a welcome relief to anyone who has squinted at the pages of *Science, Perception and Reality* which also includes EPM. However, the omission of the footnotes Sellars added in 1963 is very odd. Also, the endnote markers are not superscripted but merely placed in parentheses which can be confusing since at other times a number in () is not referring to an endnote but rather to a numbered paragraph. Be forewarned that Brandom's study guide is not exegetical as one might hope. It is an interpretation of the work. On the content: This book is definitely not for beginners, and one can become quickly annoyed at Sellars' use of cliches as references to philosophical systems. Also, Sellars will make reference to specific philosophers without actually naming them, making it difficult to figure out just what specific advocation of a view he is rejecting (See for example Section 30). Other times, he will specifically mention who he has in mind, such as in Sections 8-9 when he brings up the name of A.J. Ayer. It should go without saying that the claims Sellars makes are by no means easy to grasp and they are even less easy to accept. A note on my low ranking of this book: I gave it a 4 mostly because of Sellars' difficult writing style, and not because of the shortcomings in presentation mentioned above.
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- Philosophy as it Ought to Be
- The very best of Sellars
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Science, Perception and Reality
Wilfrid Sellars
Manufacturer: Ridgeview Pub Co
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ASIN: 0924922001 |
Customer Reviews:
Philosophy as it Ought to Be.......1999-12-28
If there is a way philosophy should be done, this book shows the way. The two central essays of the volume, "Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man", and "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind", are some of the richest pieces in the entire corpus of 20th century philosophy. In the first, Sellars examines the crucial tension between our "ordinary" understanding of ourselves and the world, the Manifest Image, and a "corresponding" picture in the Scientific Image. According to this way of dividing up our confrontation with the world, Behaviorism turns out to belong largely, if not completely, to the Manifest Image of Man. The real drama takes place when the two images confront one another. How he handles this seeming conflict is better left to a primary reading of the text. The same goes for "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind". Neither essay will tolerate a single reading, so be prepared to spend a lot of time with this book. A word on style. Sellars writes much as he spoke, with little edited out. The result is a huge net of convoluted sentences that insist the reader not waste an ounce of concentration on anything else. In the end, there are few philosophical texts in this century that will be as gratifying and challenging as the ones contained in this volume.
The very best of Sellars.......1999-07-07
This text is Sellars at his very best. The opening essay, "Philsophy and the Scientific Image of Man" is an excellent synoptic overview and introduction. One will find oneself constantly refering back to this essay as one moves on in the text. "The Language of Theories" brilliantly discusses Sellars' teleology, which is a Peirceian progression towards completed science. The centerpiece, of course, is "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind." This is the essay that put Sellars on the map. Along with introducing concepts such as psychological nominalism, it is a brilliant and largely flawless attack on logical empiricism. The text concludes with "Some Reflections on Language Games", a Wittgensteinian discussion centered around the notion that one must "live the game." If you only own one book from Sellars (which is no where near enough), make it this one.
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In the Space of Reasons: Selected Essays of Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
Epistemology
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ASIN: 0674024982 |
Book Description
Wilfrid Sellars (1912-1989) was, in the opinion of many, the most important American philosopher of the second half of the twentieth century. He was, Richard Rorty writes, "as original a mind as C. S. Peirce, and it has taken almost as long for the importance of his ideas to be appreciated." 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. </p>
The volume presents the most readable of Sellars's essays in a sequence that illuminates what Robert Brandom calls the "inferentialist" conception of meaning at the heart of his work. This conception, laid out in the early essays, is deployed in various epistemological contexts throughout the book so that, upon arriving at the concluding papers on Kant, the reader has been given a tour d'horizon not only of the central topics of philosophy of mind and language, but of much of the history of philosophy as well--and, with this, a sense of what a shifting of analytic philosophy from its Humean into its Kantian stage would entail. </p>
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Wilfrid Sellars: Naturalism with a Normative Turn (Key Contemporary Thinkers)
James O'Shea
Manufacturer: Polity Press
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ASIN: 0745630030 |
Book Description
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 the first critical introduction to his life's work. The book is structured around what Sellars himself regarded as the philosopher's 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 defence of scientific realism, and his comprehensive 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.
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- A superb introduction to Wilfrid Sellars and philosophy!
- Sellars has great insight into the mind, no novices allowed!
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The Metaphysics of Epistemology: Lectures by Wilfrid Sellars
Manufacturer: Ridgeview Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0917930541 |
Customer Reviews:
A superb introduction to Wilfrid Sellars and philosophy!.......1998-07-24
Amaral did a superb job of reconstructing Wilfrid Sellars' lectures given in 1975. This is not only a great introduction to Sellars and his dialectical style, it is also a great introduction to philosophy. There are numerous illustrations (which Sellars actually used when teaching), which make the material even more accessible.
Sellars has great insight into the mind, no novices allowed!.......1996-12-05
I had Dr. Amaral's course in Philosphy of Mind at Fresno State in Spring 1995. We used this as a classroom text and it was fairly heavy reading. I would recommend it highly to anyone with a background in Philosophy who is interested in understanding more about mind/brain arguments. However, no one who is lacking a basic familiarity with such figures as Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant should attempt it. One student remarked that the text "was unreadable by human beings."
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Kant And Pre-kantian Themes: Lectures by Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars
Manufacturer: Ridgeview Pub Co
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0924922842 |
Customer Reviews:
Sellars and Clarity.......2003-01-18
This is a good book which would serve well as an introduction to Sellars's dense "EPM." It provides background information on sense-datum theories, a contextual overview, clarification (i.e., shows the arguments) in each section of the text, and offers insightful commentary on each section. "EPM" is included at the end of the text.
I highly recommend this book, along with Sellars's other work, and McDowell's Mind and World.
what is this all about?.......2002-10-15
the commentary writers are offering here is crowded with the details of Sellar's essay and quite at no point supplies a general foothold to make Sellar's work and what's original in it understandable (which I finally can not appreciate how philosophically original it is).
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Wilfrid Sellars (Philosophy Now)
Willem Devries
Manufacturer: McGill-Queen's University Press
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ASIN: 0773530517 |
Book Description
Wilfrid Sellars (1912-1989) has been called the most profound and systematic epistemological thinker of the twentieth century. Many of his ideas have become widely acknowledged, including 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." Notoriously difficult to understand, Sellars' essays are not only complex but were never situated within a unified exposition of his thought.. Willem deVries addresses these difficulties and provides a careful reading and remarkable overview of Sellars' systematic philosophy. This clear, comprehensive, and authoritative work will become the standard point of reference for all philosophers seeking to understand Sellars's hugely significant body of work.
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Pure Pragmatics & Possible Worlds: The Early Essays of Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars
Manufacturer: Ridgeview Pub Co
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ASIN: 0917930061 |
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