The Pittsburgh School of Philosophy: Sellars, McDowell, Brandom

Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy

by Chauncey Maher

In this volume, Maher contextualizes the work of a group of contemporary analytic philosophers The Pittsburgh School whose work is characterized by an interest in the history of philosophy and a commitment to normative functionalism, or the insight that to identify something as a manifestation of conceptual capacities is to place it in a space of norms. Wilfrid Sellars claimed that humans are distinctive because they occupy a norm-governed "space of reasons." Along with Sellars, Robert Brandom and John McDowell have tried to work out the implications of that idea for understanding knowledge, thought, norms, language, and intentional action. The aim of this book is to introduce their shared views on those topics, while also charting a few key disputes between them.

Genres: Philosophy

170 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Error Theorist · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to the core ideas that make up the "Pittsburgh School". The book deals with the normative functionalism espoused by Sellars and Brandom while also giving equal time to the quietism of McDowell. The author did a good job of contrasting the views of Sellars, McDowell, and Brandom, and shows how there are some key issues where none of them agree, especially McDowell and Brandom.

[M D]

Intended for undergraduates but this is not for the faint of heart. Picked through on and off for weeks and weeks. I think I have a marginally better understanding of these guys which is not saying much but I'd like to learn more. Maher does a very good job offering a survey of the three thinkers though it seems like McDowell always gets last word on any subject.