Wilfrid Sellars

Notre Dame Lectures 1969-1986

“A flower in the crannied wall,” Sellars describes these Lectures while picking his philosophy out of the crannies, roots and all. “One of the basic tasks that philosophy has to do is to raise questions,” he remarks, “to open up conceptual possibilities...philosophers should not regard themselves as merely Owls of Minerva who come back in the night after the day is done. They should also be “heralds of the dawn” who create the categories in terms of which science is rejuvenated.” In this, the Notre Dame Lectures do not disappoint. As a measure of the fruition of the monumental changes Sellars envisions and his hope of a reunification of science and philosophy, the lectures stand alone. From the pointed critiques of Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle and Wittgenstein, to the playful scolding of Carnap, Bergman, Firth, Chisholm and Quine, Sellars encourages philosophers to take up the challenge of giving direction to the future of the cognitive sciences.