Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind Week 1

The early analytic tradition combined empiricism, which had been present in philosophy for some time, with the new tools of logic in an attempt to place mathematics, science, and philosophy more broadly on a firmer foundation than ever before. By the middle of the twentieth century, these initial ambitions seemed overly extravagant, as many of the problems that had long plagued empiricism were resurfacing. In 1956, Wilfrid Sellars responded to this state of affairs with *Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind*, encouraging analytic philosophy to enter its Kantian phase and move beyond a Humean empiricism. His central target was the “Myth of the Given,” the idea that experience can justify belief without already involving concepts. The work was highly influential on Richard Rorty and Robert Brandom, who later wrote the introduction and study guide, respectively, for the 1997 edition, and who helped usher in a new wave of ideas in the analytic tradition. Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. We will read pages 1-64 for the first week which is equivalent to the intro and Chapters 1-6.