Sellars on the Myth of the Given - Epistemology Video 9

This is video 9 in an introductory course on epistemology, the philosophy of knowledge. In this video we look at a criticism of foundationalism about observational beliefs. Wilfrid Sellars argued, in his seminal Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind (1956), that foundational observational beliefs would have to be two inconsistent things at the same time: they have to be given, that is, obtaining them requires no application of epistemic standards; and yet they have to be able to justify beliefs, which means that they need to have conceptual form. But, Sellars claims, the use of concepts always requires the application of epistemic standards. If so, this generates trouble for foundationalism.

Victor Gijsbers teaches philosophy at Leiden University in the Netherlands. You can follow him on mastodon: @[email protected].

This video is part of a lecture series originally recorded for my students during the 2023/2024 spring semester. The entire playlist is here:    • Course in Epistemology