Sellars as Metaphysician: Norms and Nature, Appearance and Reality (2023)

Sellars as Metaphysician:

Norms and Nature, Appearance and Reality

Philosophy 2410—Fall 2023—University of Pittsburgh
Bob Brandom
Thursdays, 1:00pm to 3:30 pm
Course Website at sites.pitt.edu/~rbrandom

Course Description
Week 1. August 31, 2023:
Introduction to the Course:
Sellars's Synoptic Metaphysical Vision in Neo-Kantian Context
• Read Brandom, From Empiricism to Expressivism, Introduction, pp. 1-29.
Week 1 Materials:
Some Sellars Quotations for Introduction
German Neo-Kantians
Diagram of Sellars's "Synoptic Vision"
Handout for Meeting 1: Introduction
Brandom's notes for Meeting 1: Introduction
Video of Meeting 1: Introduction
Audio of Meeting 1: Introduction
Supplementary:
o Brandom From Empiricism to Expressivism, Chapter 1, pp. 30-98.
Some Sellars Resources:
Sellars Bibliography (with links)
Sellars Archive at Pitt Libraries Archive for Scientific Philosophy
Sellars Website, by Andrew Chrucky
Wilfrid Sellars Society
wilfridsellars.org
Sellars Science, Perception, and Reality (SPR--1963).
Sellars Pure Pragmatics and Possible Worlds (PPPW--1980).
Miscellaneous Sellars Pictures (PPPW--1980).
Week 2. September 7, 2023:
Normative Inferential Functionalism
* Read Sellars, "Some Reflections on Language Games" (SRLG--1951).
• Read Sellars, "Language, Rules, and Behavior" (LRB--1949).
• Read Sellars, "Inference and Meaning" (IM--1953).
Week 2 Materials:
Handout for Meeting 2: LRB and SRLG Passages
Handout for Meeting 2: Inference and Meaning Passages
Advice for Participants for Meeting 2
Plan for Week 2
Brandom's notes for Meeting 2: Normativity and Discursive Practice
Video of Meeting 2: Normativity and Discursive Practice
Audio of Meeting 2: Normativity and Discursive Practice
Supplementary:
o Read Sellars, "Meaning as Functional Classification" (MFC--1974).
o Brandom Making It Explicit Chapter One (Section III and Appendix) (1994).
o McDowell, "Wittgenstein on Following a Rule" (1984).
o Sellars, "Language as Thought and as Communication" (LTC--1969).
o Brandom "The Pragmatist Enlightenment and Its Problematic Semantics"
Week 3. September 14, 2023:
Epistemology: The Myth of the Given and 'Looks'-talk.
• Read Sellars, "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" (EPM--1956), §1-§38
• Read Brandom, Study Guide to EPM (through §38)
Week 3 Materials:
Passages from Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind
Plan for Week 3
Brandom's notes for Week 3. Epistemology: The Myth of the Given and 'Looks'-talk.
Video of Meeting 3. Epistemology: The Myth of the Given and 'Looks'-talk.
Audio of Meeting 3. Epistemology: The Myth of the Given and 'Looks'-talk.
Supplementary Material:
o Read Sellars Carus Lectures (1981) Lecture I: "The Lever of Archimedes"
o Brandom "The Centrality of Sellars's 2-Ply Account of Observation to EPM" (Chapter 2 of FEE)
o Simonelli "How to be a Hyper-Inferentialist"
Week 4. September 21, 2023:
Theoretical Entities in the Philosophy of Mind:
• Read Sellars "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" (EPM--1956), §39-§63.
• Read Sellars "Phenomenalism".
Week 4 Materials:
Handout for Meeting 4: More passages from EPM, and from "Phenomenalism".
Plan for Week 4
Brandom's notes for Meeting 4: Theoretical Entities in the Philosophy of Mind
Video of Meeting 4: Theoretical Entities in the Philosophy of Mind
Audio of Meeting 4: Theoretical Entities in the Philosophy of Mind
Supplementary Material:
o McDowell, "Why is Sellars's Essay called Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind?" Essay 12 in Having the World in View.
o Brandom "Pragmatism, Inferentialism, and Modality in Sellars's Arguments Against Empiricism", Essay 3 in FEE.
o Brandom "No Experience Necessary: Empiricism, Non-inferential Knowledge, and Secondary Qualities"
o Brandom "Fighting Skepticism with Skepticism" (1999)
Week 5. September 28, 2023:
Nominalism I: Abstraction, Universals, and Ones-in-Many
• Read Sellars "Grammar and Existence" (GE--1958).
• Read Sellars "Abstract Entities" (AE--1963).
Week 5 Materials:
Handout 1 for Meeting 5: Outline of "Grammar and Existence."
Handout 2 for Meeting 5: GE and AE Passages.
Plan for Week 5. Nominalism I: Abstraction, Universals, and Ones-in-Many.
Brandom's notes for Meeting 5. Nominalism I: Abstraction, Universals, and Ones-in-Many.
Video of Meeting 5. Nominalism I: Abstraction, Universals, and Ones-in-Many.
Audio of Meeting 5. Nominalism I: Abstraction, Universals, and Ones-in-Many.
Supplementary Material:
o Quine "On What There Is" (1948)
Week 6. October 5, 2023:
Nominalism and Abstraction II: Ontological Nominalism and Nominalization Nominalism, Naming and Saying
• Read Sellars "Naming and Saying" (NS--1962).
• Read Sellars "Empiricism and Abstract Entities" (1954).
Week 6 Materials:
Passages from "Naming and Saying"
The Lvov-Warsaw School of Logic: Principal Figures
Plan for Week 6: Ontological Nominalism and Nominalization Nominalism: Naming and Saying
Brandom's notes for Meeting 6. Ontological Nominalism and Nominalization Nominalism: Naming and Saying
Video of Meeting 6. Ontological Nominalism and Nominalization Nominalism: Naming and Saying
Audio of Meeting 6. Ontological Nominalism and Nominalization Nominalism: Naming and Saying
Supplementary Material:
o Brandom, "Sellars's Metalinguistic Expressive Nominalism", Chapter 7 of From Empiricism to Expressivism.
o Simonelli, "Sellars's Ontological Nominalism".
o Lear, "The Jumblies".
Week 7. October 12, 2023:
Sellars's Pragmatic Metalinguistic Expressivism about Alethic Modality
• Read Sellars "Counterfactuals, Dispositions, and the Causal Modalities" (CDCM--1958), Parts III and IV.
Week 7 Materials:
Handout for Meeting 7: CDCM Quotations
Plan for Meeting 7: Sellars's Pragmatic Metalinguistic Expressivism about Alethic Modality
Bob's Notes for Meeting 7: Sellars's Pragmatic Metalinguistic Expressivism about Alethic Modality
Video of Meeting 7: Sellars's Pragmatic Metalinguistic Expressivism about Alethic Modality
Audio of Meeting 7: Sellars's Pragmatic Metalinguistic Expressivism about Alethic Modality
Supplementary Material:
o Brandom, "From Hume and Quine to Kant and Sellars",Chapter 4 of FEE.
o Brandom, "Modal Expressivism and Modal Realism: Together Again",Chapter 5 of FEE.
o Geach, "Ascriptivism" (1960)
Week 8. October 19, 2023:
Reconciling the Manifest Image and the Scientific Image
• Read Sellars "Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man" (PSIM--1962).
• Read O'Shea "The Structure of Sellars's Naturalism with a Normative Turn".
Week 8 Materials:
Handout for Meeting 8: Passages from "Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man"
Plan for Meeting 8: Reconciling the Manifest and Scientific Images
Notes for Meeting 8: Reconciling the Manifest and Scientific Images
Video of Meeting 8: Reconciling the Manifest and Scientific Images
Audio of Meeting 8: Reconciling the Manifest and Scientific Images
Supplementary Material:
o Sellars, "A Semantical Solution to the Mind-Body Problem" (SSMB--1953)
o Eddington, "Two Tables", Introduction to his Gifford Lectures The Nature of the Physical World, 1927
Week 9. October 26, 2023:
Transcendental Idealism as Scientific Realism: Science and Metaphysics Part 1
• Read Sellars Science and Metaphysics (SM--1968) Chapter II.
• Read Sellars "Truth and Correspondence". (TC--1962)
Week 9 Materials:
Handout 1 for Meeting 9: Passages from Science and Metaphysics Chapter II
Handout 2 for Meeting 9: Passages from "Truth and Correspondence"
Plan for Meeting 9: The Metaphysics of Intentionality
Notes for Meeting 9: A Brief History of the Concept of Appearance
Video of Meeting 9: A Brief History of the Concept of Appearance
Audio of Meeting 9: A Brief History of the Concept of Appearance
Supplementary Material:
o McDowell, Woodbridge Lectures from Having the World in View, Essays 1 and 2
o McDowell, "Criteria, Defeasibility, and Knowledge"
Week 10. November 2, 2023:
Scientific Realism as Transcendental Idealism: Science and Metaphysics Part 2
Transcendental Semantics, Reality, and Conceptual Progress
• Read Sellars Science and Metaphysics (SM--1968) Chapter V.
Week 10 Materials:
Handout for Meeting 10: Passages from Science and Metaphysics V
Plan for Meeting 10: Transcendental Semantics, Reality, and Conceptual Progress
Notes for Meeting 10. Science and Metaphysics Ch. V: Transcendental Semantics, Reality, and Conceptual Progress
Video of Meeting 10. Science and Metaphysics Ch. V: Transcendental Semantics, Reality, and Conceptual Progress
Audio of Meeting 10. Science and Metaphysics Ch. V: Transcendental Semantics, Reality, and Conceptual Progress
Supplementary Material:
o Brandom "Unsuccessful Semantics" (1994)
o Rescher and Brandom The Logic of Inconsistency (1980) Selections
Week 11. November 9, 2023:
More on Picturing: Science and Metaphysics Part 3
• Read Seiberth "The Role of Languagings in Sellars's Theory of Experience" (2021)
• Read Simonelli "Sellars's Two Worlds" (2023)
Week 11 Materials:
Handout for Meeting 11: Picturing Diagram"
Handout for Meeting 11: Passages from Seibarth's "The Role of Languagings in Sellars..."
Notes for Meeting 11: Conceptual Appearances, Transcendental Semantics, and Picturing
Video of Meeting 11: Conceptual Appearances, Transcendental Semantics, and Picturing
Audio of Meeting 11: Conceptual Appearances, Transcendental Semantics, and Picturing
Week 12. November 16, 2023:
Nominalism and Processes
• Read Sellars, "Naturalism and Process," Carus Lecture II, pp. 30-56.
• Read Simonelli, "Sellars's Ontological Nominalism" (2021)
Week 12 Materials:
Handout for Meeting 12: Selected Passages from Carus Lecture II
Bob's Notes for Meeting 12: Nominalism and Processes
Video of Meeting 12: Nominalism and Processes
Audio of Meeting 12: Nominalism and Processes
Supplementary Material:
o Lewis "Mathematics is Megethology" (1991)
o Seibt "Pure Processes and Projective Metaphysics" (1998)
o Seibt "Nontransitive Parthood, Mereology, and Processes" (1998)
o Dummett Frege's Philosophy of Language (FPL--1973) Chapter 14: Abstract Objects
o Goodman and Quine "Steps Towards a Constructive Nominalism" (1947)
No Class November 23, 2023:
Thanksgiving Holiday Break
Week 13. November 30, 2023:
Description, Fact-Stating, and Two Bifurcation Principles
• Read Brandom, "Modal Expressivism and Modal Realism: Together Again",Chapter 5 of FEE.
Week 13 Materials:
Plan for Meeting 13: Description, Fact-Stating, and Two Bifurcation Principles
Handout for Meeting 13: Description, Fact-Stating, and Two Bifurcation Principles
Bob's Notes for Meeting 13: Description, Fact-Stating, and Two Bifurcation Principles
Video of Meeting 13: Description, Fact-Stating, and Two Bifurcation Principles
Audio of Meeting 13: Description, Fact-Stating, and Two Bifurcation Principles
Week 14. December 7, 2023:
Conclusion:
Sellars's Metaphysics: A Divided World
And an Alternative:
World-of-Facts, Bimodal Conceptual Realism
Week 14 Materials:
Plan for Meeting 14: Conclusion: Bimodal Conceptual Realism
Handout for Meeting 14: Conclusion: Bimodal Conceptual Realism
Bob's Notes for Meeting 14: Conclusion: Bimodal Conceptual Realism
Video of Meeting 14: Conclusion: Bimodal Conceptual Realism
Audio of Meeting 14: Conclusion: Bimodal Conceptual Realism
Supplementary Material:
o Hlobil, "The Laws of Thought and the Laws of Truth as Two Sides of One Coin" (2022)
o Fine, "A Theory of Truthmaker Content I" (2017)