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Rules, Meaning and Behavior: Reflections on Sellars’ Philosophy of Language

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The Philosophy of Wilfrid Sellars: Queries and Extensions

Part of the book series: Philosophical Studies Series in Philosophy ((PSSP,volume 12))

Abstract

In this paper I propose to discuss certain broad and relatively unexplored aspects of Wilfrid Sellars’ philosophy of language. In particular, I shall deal with certain aspects of his richly textured and multi-dimensional account of meaning, rules, rule-governed linguistic behavior, and language learning. My primary concern shall not be with the analytic details of that account (with which I shall pressure the reader to be reasonably familiar), or with the relatively well known ontological issues involved in it (the status of linguistic ’roles’, abstract entities, nominalism, etc.). Instead, I shall venture a synoptic reconstruction of Sellars’ often fragmented and tortuous discussion of the key concepts in the attempt to exhibit their interconnections and their epistemological and methodological implications for a general (psychological) theory of language and linguistic behavior.

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© 1978 Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland

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Marras, A. (1978). Rules, Meaning and Behavior: Reflections on Sellars’ Philosophy of Language. In: Pitt, J.C. (eds) The Philosophy of Wilfrid Sellars: Queries and Extensions. Philosophical Studies Series in Philosophy, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9848-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9848-3_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-9850-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-9848-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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