Phenomenology and pragmatism

Recently there has been increasing interest worldwide in how the ‘Pittsburgh School of Philosophy’, which builds on Wilfrid Sellars’ rich body of philosophical writings, can bring fresh perspectives to epistemology and philosophy of mind. Sellars’ searching philosophical analysis of ‘experience’ in works such as Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind has been used to unite and enrich discussions in traditionally experience-focussed philosophical traditions such as phenomenology and pragmatism. Meanwhile, Sellars’ distinctive scientific naturalism has birthed new empirically-informed theories of mind in his students Ruth Millikan and Paul Churchland.  

Carl Sachs’ recent book Intentionality and the Myths of the Given: Between Pragmatism and Phenomenology deftly bridges all these debates. Being indebted to Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of perception and his treatment of embodied habits, it also opens the prospect for collaboration with contemporary versions of embodied phenomenology that are empirically-informed, like Shaun Gallagher’s Enactivist Interventions: Rethinking the Mind. We are using the opportunity of a research visit by both philosophers to Deakin University to organise a workshop around these themes.  

PROGRAM:  

10 a.m. Shaun Gallagher (Memphis) - "Anchoring Know-How: Action, Affordance and Anticipation"

11 a.m. Jack Reynolds (Deakin) - "Argument and Phenomenology"

12 p.m. LUNCH

1 p.m. Cathy Legg (Deakin) - "Pragmatism as Non-Conceptual Content: Its Scope and Limits"

2 p.m. Ross Pain (ANU) - "Carnap and Sellars on the Problem of Universals".

3 p.m. Break

3.30 p.m. Carl Sachs (Marymount) - "Why Rules Need Habits: Insights from Sellars"

4.30 p.m. AFTERNOON TEA AND DISCUSSION    

If you’d like to attend, please email Cathy Legg ([email protected]).