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The father, the son, and the daughter: Sellars, Brandom, and Millikan

Abstract

The positions of Brandom and Millikan are compared with respect to their common origins in the works of Wilfrid Sellars and Wittgenstein. Millikan takes more seriously the “picturing” themes from Sellars and Wittgenstein. Brandom follows Sellars more closely in deriving the normativity of language from social practice, although there are also hints of a possible derivation from evolutionary theory in Sellars. An important claim common to Brandom and Millikan is that there are no representations without function or “attitude”.

Abstract

The positions of Brandom and Millikan are compared with respect to their common origins in the works of Wilfrid Sellars and Wittgenstein. Millikan takes more seriously the “picturing” themes from Sellars and Wittgenstein. Brandom follows Sellars more closely in deriving the normativity of language from social practice, although there are also hints of a possible derivation from evolutionary theory in Sellars. An important claim common to Brandom and Millikan is that there are no representations without function or “attitude”.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. About the Authors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Formal truth and objective reference in an inferentialist setting 7
  6. The nature of meaning: Brandom versus Chomsky 35
  7. The father, the son, and the daughter: Sellars, Brandom, and Millikan 53
  8. A deflationist theory of intentionality? Brandom's analysis of de re specifying attitude-ascriptions 65
  9. Transcendental deduction of predicative structure in Kant and Brandom 83
  10. Meaning, justification, and truth 99
  11. Motivating inferentialism: Comments on Making it Explicit (Ch. 2) 109
  12. Pragmatics, Pittsburgh style 127
  13. Brandom's solution of the objectivity problem 147
  14. Keeping track of individuals: Brandom's analysis of Kripke's puzzle and the content of belief 163
  15. Scorekeeping in a defective language game 187
  16. Response 209
  17. Index of persons 231
  18. Index of topics 233
The Pragmatics of <i>Making it Explicit</i>
This chapter is in the book The Pragmatics of <i>Making it Explicit</i>
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.15.05mil

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. About the Authors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Formal truth and objective reference in an inferentialist setting 7
  6. The nature of meaning: Brandom versus Chomsky 35
  7. The father, the son, and the daughter: Sellars, Brandom, and Millikan 53
  8. A deflationist theory of intentionality? Brandom's analysis of de re specifying attitude-ascriptions 65
  9. Transcendental deduction of predicative structure in Kant and Brandom 83
  10. Meaning, justification, and truth 99
  11. Motivating inferentialism: Comments on Making it Explicit (Ch. 2) 109
  12. Pragmatics, Pittsburgh style 127
  13. Brandom's solution of the objectivity problem 147
  14. Keeping track of individuals: Brandom's analysis of Kripke's puzzle and the content of belief 163
  15. Scorekeeping in a defective language game 187
  16. Response 209
  17. Index of persons 231
  18. Index of topics 233
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