Episode 154: Wilfrid Sellars on the Myth of the Given - a podcast by Mark Linsenmayer

from 2016-12-19T12:00:37

:: ::

On "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" (1956).

Is knowledge based on a "foundation," as Descartes, Locke, et al. thought? Sellars says no: The allegedly basic elements upon which knowledge would be built either have to be propositions, in which case they involve a lot of prior knowledge involved in language use and so aren't really basic, or they're "raw feels," in which case they can't actually serve as reasons for anything; reasons have to be propositional. With guest Lawrence Dallman.

End song: "Senses on Fire" by Mercury Rev. Check out the interview with singer Jonathan Donahue in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 14.

Please support PEL!

Further episodes of The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Further podcasts by Mark Linsenmayer

Website of Mark Linsenmayer