Table Of ContentWilfrid Sellars, Idealism, and Realism
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Wilfrid Sellars, Idealism, and
Realism
Understanding Psychological Nominalism
Edited by
Patrick J. Reider
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
LONDON • OXFORD • NEW YORK • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN : HB : 978-1-4742-3893-9
e PDF : 978-1-4742-3895-3
ePub: 978-1-4742-3894-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
Names: Reider, Patrick J., 1974– editor.
Title: Wilfrid Sellars, idealism and realism : understanding psychological nominalism /
edited by Patrick J. Reider.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2016. | Includes index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016029679 (print) | LCCN 2016034170 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781474238939 (hardback) | ISBN 9781474238953 (epdf) |
ISBN 9781474238946 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Sellars, Wilfrid. | Nominalism. | Realism. | Idealism.
Classifi cation: LCC B945.S444 W55 2016 (print) | LCC B945.S444 (ebook) | DDC 191—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016029679
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To my mom and dad and the lessons they taught me
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Contents
Abbreviations of Sellars’ Texts viii
Introduction: Psychological Nominalism and German Idealism
Patrick J. Reider, University of Pittsburgh, USA 1
Part 1 Psychological Nominalism and Realism
1 “Psychological Nominalism” and the Given, from Abstract
Entities to Animal Minds
James R. O’Shea, University College Dublin, Ireland 19
2 Hegel and Sellars’ “Myth of Jones”: Can Sellars Have More in
Common With Hegel than Rorty and Brandom Suggest?
Paul Redding, University of Sydney, Australia 41
3 Th e Metaphysics of Sensation: Psychological Nominalism
and the Reality of Consciousness
Ray Brassier, American University of Beirut, Lebanon 59
4 Language, Norms, and Linguistic Norms
Willem deVries, University of New Hampshire, USA 83
Part 2 Psychological Nominalism and Idealism
5 On the Pittsburgh School, Kant, Hegel, and Realism
Tom Rockmore, Peking University, China 103
6 Reading Sellars’ “Philosophy and the Scientifi c Image
of Man,” with Robert Brandom at One’s Side
Joseph Margolis, Temple University, USA 121
7 A Kantian Critique of Sellars’ Transcendental Realism
Johannes Haag, Universität Potsdam, Germany 149
8 Psychological Nominalism and Conceptual Relativism:
An Idealist’s Take
Patrick J. Reider, University of Pittsburgh, USA 173
Index 195
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Abbreviations of Sellars’ Texts
BBK “Being and Being Known” in S cience, Perception and Reality
BLM “Behaviorism, Language and Meaning”
CE “Th e Concept of Emergence”
CIL “ Concepts as Involving Laws and Inconceivable without Th em”
EAE “Empiricism and Abstract Entities”
EPM “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind”
FMPP “Foundations for a Metaphysics of Pure Process”
IKTE “Th e Role of Imagination in Kant’s Th eory of Experience”
ISR In the Space of Reasons: Selected Essays of Wilfrid Sellars
KTE “Some Remarks on Kant’s Th eory of Experience”
KTI “Kant’s Transcendental Idealism”
LCP “On Th e Logic of Complex Particulars”
LTC “Language as Th ought and as Communication”
ME Th e Metaphysics of Epistemology
MEV Philosophical Studies 39: 325–45
NO N aturalism and Ontology
PH “Phenomenalism”
PSMI “Philosophy and the Scientifi c Image of Man”
SK “Th e Structure of Knowledge: (1) Perception; (2) Minds; (3) Epistemic
Principles”
SM Science and Metaphysics: Variations on Kantian Th emes
SPR Science, Perception and Reality
SRI “Scientifi c Realism or Irenic Instrumentalism: A Critique of Nagel and
Feyerabend on Th eoretical Explanation”
SRLG “Some Refl ections on Language Games”
SRPC “Some Refl ections on Perceptual Consciousness”
SSIS “ Science, Sense Impressions, and Sensa: A Reply to Cornman”
SSOP “Sensa or Sensings: Refl ections on the Ontology of Perception”
TC “Truth and Correspondence”
TTC “Towards a Th eory of the Categories”
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Introduction: Psychological Nominalism and
German Idealism
Patrick J. Reider , University of Pittsburgh ( USA )
Th is volume is the fi rst 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 twentieth century.
Although wedded to important aspects of German idealism, Sellars’ theory is
couched in bold scientifi c realist terms of the analytic tradition. Th ose who are
sympathetic to German idealism fi nd his realist’s appropriation of idealism
problematic. W ilfrid 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. Th eir resulting discussion bridges
the gap between analytic and continental philosophy.
Nominalism, realism, and a logical space
To understand “psychological nominalism” and what is at stake in this theory,
one should keep in mind two opposing views: “nominalism” and the specifi c
form of “realism” it rejects. 1 Nominalism is a countermovement against “realists,”
who claim that universals exist independent of the human mind. In opposition
to the realists, nominalists argue that universals are c reated by and inseparable
from the human mind. Psychological nominalism is a sophisticated and
linguistically centered version of nominalism.
One important aspect of the debate between nominalists and realists concerns
the source of human understanding. For instance, in the following excerpt, Michael
Loux explains the manner in which the activity of sorting, classifying, and grouping
entities together requires the functional use of universals. In this regard, universals
play an essential role in our rational thoughts and cognitive experiences:
1
