Kant And Pre Kantian Themes Lectures By Wilfrid Sellars

Kant and Pre-Kantian Themes

Reading Kant with Sellars

This book considers Wilfrid Sellars’ engagement with Kantian philosophy—both theoretical and practical—in his exegetical work in reading Kant as well as in his own systematic development of Kantian philosophy. Despite the spate of new publications on Wilfrid Sellars’ role in 20th-century philosophy, a comprehensive book-length examination of his interpretation of Kant has been conspicuously absent. This volume fills that gap both exegetically and systematically, exploring his engagement in four distinct sections: (1) Logic and History; (2) Sensations and Intuitions; (3) Being and Categories; and (4) Reason, Modality, and Freedom. The chapters within these sections, written by leading experts, explore Sellars’ reading of Kant and offer both defenses and critiques. Readers will find in this collection not only a thorough exploration of Sellars’ engagement with Kant, but also a rich dialogue between Kant scholars and specialists in Sellars’ philosophy. Reading Kant with Sellars is essential reading for Kant and Sellars scholars, offering them deeper insights into their respective fields by highlighting the importance of Kant for Sellars and the relevance of Sellars’ reading of Kant for Kant scholarship. It will also appeal to scholars and advanced students in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, epistemology, moral and practical philosophy, and logic.

Wilfrid Sellars

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.