The Problem of the Two Images

Abstract

Many of us who are interested in Sellars’ work were first attracted by his discussion of the relationship between the manifest or commonsense image of the world and the scientific image of the world. The reason Sellars’ discussion of this relationship captured us was probably that it involved the interplay of a number of philosophical issues, each of which seemed very interesting in itself. Each workshop presentation at the Sellars’ Conference prudently focused on one issue or problem in Sellars’ work, and the more sweeping question of the relationship between the two images was not really raised. But the sessions on epistemology and metaphysics did at times touch parts of that sweeping question, especially in the discussions led by Ausonio Marras and James Cornman. I think there are advantages to treating the parts of a sweeping question together, so that their effects on one another can be kept in sight. What follows is my own discussion of what I take to be the principal issues in Sellars’ presentation of the relationship between the images.