Sellars's Master Argument for Conceptualism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14949544 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mahdi Ranaee (0000-0001-6950-2277, Universität Siegen/Kant Zentrum NRW Siegen Germany, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1557-1569 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ejop.70013 |
| OpenAlex | W4413085276 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
This paper reconstructs what I call Sellars's ‘master argument’ for conceptualism regarding Kantian intuitions—a coherent argumentative thread that appears throughout his works beginning with Science and Metaphysics . In contrast to standard interpretations that focus primarily on the role of the categories, I demonstrate that Sellars defends a robust form of conceptualism in which empirical concepts also play a constitutive role in intuition. The master argument proceeds through three key moves: defining Kantian intuition as a (singular) ‘representation of a manifold’; showing that such a representation is necessarily conceptual; and employing an Aristotelian reading of intuition as a ‘this‐such’ or ‘ tode ti ’. This reconstruction not only clarifies Sellars's distinctive position in the conceptualism/non‐conceptualism debate but also provides resources for addressing some contemporary objections, particularly those concerning animal cognition and the content of intuitions
Argumentative · Conceptualism · Epistemology · Intuition · Metaphysics · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science
From Empiricism to Expressivism
Kantian Nonconceptualism
Kant, Non-Conceptual Content and the Representation of Space
I. Substance and Form in Aristotle
Getting Acquainted with Kant
Conceptualism and Nonconceptualism in Kant
Naming and Saying
Kant on Marks and the Immediacy of Intuition
Rationality
The Logical Alien. Conant and His Critics
Why Kant Is Not a Kantian
Two Kinds of Unity in the Critique of Pure Reason
A system of rational faculties
Manifest Reality
Some Remarks on Kant's Theory of Experience
Kant’s Account of Cognition
The Kantian (Non)-conceptualism Debate
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |