Conceptualism and the new myth of the given
pp. 101-122
Abstract
The motivation for McDowell’s conceptualism is an epistemological consideration. McDowell believes conceptualism would guarantee experience a justificatory role in our belief system and we can then avoid the Myth of the Given without falling into coherentism. Conceptualism thus claims an epistemological advantage over nonconceptualism. The epistemological advantage of conceptualism is not to be denied. But both Sellars and McDowell insist experience is not belief. This makes it impossible for experience to justify empirical knowledge, for the simple reason that what is not a belief cannot justify a belief. Nondoxastic experience, though conceptual, is still a Given. And what conceptualism gives us can only be a New Myth of the Given.
Publication details
Published in:
Bai Tongdong (2010) Analytic philosophy in China. Synthese 175 (1).
Pages: 101-122
DOI: 10.1007/s11229-009-9529-5
Full citation:
Tang Refeng (2010) „Conceptualism and the new myth of the given“. Synthese 175 (1), 101–122.