Science, Perception and Reality: An introduction to the philosophy of Wilfrid Sellars

Wilfrid Sellars (1912-1989) is a major figure in 20th century American philosophy, the son of
another important figure, Roy Wood Sellars who, like Sellars mother, was a Canadian by birth. He has
been called (by Robert Brandom, a pretty hot figure himself these days) the greatest American philosopher
since Charles Sanders Pierce. His published work appeared from the late 1940s on to about 1980,
including a range of essays and books, as well as influential contributions as an editor. His interests ranged
across metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, of language, and mind, and the history of
philosophy. Recently, some aspects of his views in epistemology (especially his rejection of the myth of
the given in Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind) as well as the philosophy of mind and philosophy
of language (his inferential approach to semantics) have re-emerged as hot topics in influential
philosophical circles.
Twentieth century analytic philosophy (a category that emerged in the middle of the twentieth
century, but can be retroactively applied with fair success to earlier work) has been dominated by articles
and books aimed piecemeal at specific issues. The result (as you might expect) is a certain narrowness of
focus; at worst, it leads to the detailed pursuit of particular problems and questions in more or less self-
contained sub-literatures; these wax and wane in fashionability without ever emerging into coherent (or
illuminating) relationships with other philosophical concerns. Some major figures (Bertrand Russell, for
example) wrote influential papers on a wide range of topics without ever integrating their views or settling
on an overall architectonic for their work. Sellars, by contrast, is a systematic philosopher; his work,
though much of it appeared in essay form, hangs together in rich and rewarding ways. As we will see, for
Sellars this systematicity was an inescapable obligation for philosophypart of what makes philosophy
what it is. Sellars work is also ambitious (sometimes staggeringly so), addressing extremely difficult
questions (the nature of knowledge, mind, the status of science, laws of nature, counterfactuals and the
problem of induction, to name just a few) in innovative and interconnected ways. As a result, studying his
work is difficult (we will regularly find ourselves down in what Adolf Grnbaum calls the mud) but
extremely rewarding.
Well be reading selected essays from Sellars 1963 book, Science, Perception and Reality,
beginning with the opening essay, Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man. This essay introduces a
wide range of topics (from the nature of philosophy to intentionality to historical themes to the status of the
scientific image). Well continue (in the order Sellars chose) with Being and Being Known, which
presents some of Sellars ideas about intentionality in a historical context, Phenomenalism, which deals
with the psychology and epistemology of perception, and The Language of Theories, which develops
some of Sellars ideas about the nature and status of scientific theories and their entities. Then well move
on to Sellars most famous and influential essay, Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind. Other essays
will follow, depending both on opportunity (pursuing further issues that arise in class) and students
particular interests (including your choices of seminar and essay topics). (Jay Rosenberg says, in his essay
on Sellars life and work, that whenever he asked Sellars a question about his views, Sellars offered him
another essay to readand every essay led to 3 or 4 new questions. In the end, Rosenberg solved the
problem by reading them all. But I wont ask you to do that here. ;-) )
The aim here is to spend enough time on each essay to really come to grips with its main
arguments. As time goes on, we should come to see how the views developed in each fit together in
Sellars philosophy. I will try to prepare a short list of questions to help guide your reading of each essay,
but you will certainly find questions of your own to ask, tooplease dont hesitate to raise them (especially
because I suspect the questions I pose may well be less helpful to students just beginning to read Sellars
than the questions you raise yourselves). I recommend that you read each essay more than once; taking
notes as you go along also helps, especially because topics and ideas come around more than once in
Sellars writings, and if you keep track, you will find that later remarks and arguments often help to clarify
what he was on about earlier.
Evaluation:
Grades will be based on a seminar presentation (20 minutes, 10%), a major essay (2,500 to 4,000 words,
50%), a midterm and a final exam (both 20%). The midterm and final will be very straightforward, based
on short-answer questions I will distribute from time to time to help guide and focus your readings.
Required Text:
Wilfrid Sellars, Science, Perception and Reality (1963, republished by Ridgeview Publishing Company,
1991).
Other Readings:
A bibliography of Sellars work and work on Sellars, together with online resources including biographical
information and essays on Sellars can be found at http://www.ditext.com/sellars/ . I especially recommend
the autobiographical essay by Sellars on that site. Ill be happy to provide specific bibliographical
suggestions to help with your own researches
Further Details:
My office is TH 222; my office hours will be Tuesday and Thursday 1:30-2:30 and by appt. Im serving as
president of the faculty association this year, so it may well be difficult to find me sometimes. Please use
email or ask Randa to get hold of me if you need to arrange a meeting & cant seem to find me.
Plagiarism and related academic offenses (see the calendar section on discipline) will result in a 0 on the
assignment and a report to the Deans office for a first offense; further consequences may also result.
Course Schedule: MWF PE 238, 11:00- 11:50.
Week 1: Sept 5, 7. Introduction; some remarks about Sellars life and work.
Week 2: Sept 10, 12, 14. Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man. The aim of philosophy, the
manifest image, the original image and the perennial philosophy, posited entities and the status of science,
persons and causes.
Week 3: Sept 17, 19, 21. Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man. Classical philosophy and
synoptic images. Conceptual thought and its origins. The scientific image: methodological dependence on
the manifest, the relations between different sciences, inner speech and human behaviour; humans as
complex physical systems. Relations between the scientific and manifest images; challenging frameworks;
living as persons in the scientific world.
Week 4: Sept 24, 26, 28. Being and Being Known.
Week 5: Oct 1, 3, 5 Being and Being Known, Phenomenalism (starting Feb 5)
Week 6: Oct 10, 12 Phenomenalism
Week 8: Oct 15, 17, 19 Test 1: Feb 24; The Language of Theories
Week 9: Oct 22, 24, 26 The Language of Theories
Week 10: Oct 29, 31, Nov 2 Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind
Week 11: Nov 5, 7, 9 Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind
Week 12: Nov 14, 16 Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind
Week 13: Nov 19, 21, 23 To be decided.
Week 14: Nov 26, 28, 30 To be decided.
Week 15: Dec 3, 5, 7 To be decided.
Final (tentatively scheduled): Monday December 17 9:00- 11:00.