Reading guide for Thurs. 3/30: Sellars, “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind,” pts. XV-XVI, §§56-63 (pp. 266-276)
 
 

In these final parts, Sellars not only applies the idea of methodological behaviorism to the special cases of thoughts and sensations but also adds a further idea in an attempt to capture the full range of uses of this vocabulary.

Part XV. Here Sellars recounts the invention of the language of thoughts by the culture hero Jones, who he introduced in §53. Notice especially the account in §59 of the first person use of this language in a reporting role.

Part XVI. Finally, we have the account of the language of impressions that Sellars began to point to in part IV. Think through its similarities to and it differences from his account of thoughts in part XV. Think also why this does not amount to a reintroduction of the Myth of the Given that Sellars tried to dispel in earlier parts of the paper.