Wilfrid Sellars and the Two Images of the World

Abstract

The contrast between the manifest and the scientific image of the world is one of the most frequently invoked distinctions in the debates concerning the role of scientific knowledge in our lives, in the practice of philosophy, and in the formation of our worldview. However, the gist of this distinction is seldom thoroughly discussed, and a careful reflection shows that it can be interpreted in a variety of ways, and its delineation and substantiation is by no means simple and easy thing. The paper begins with an introduction of a popular account of the opposition between the manifest and scientific image, included in Daniel C. Dennett’s overview of tools for thinking. The main part of the paper presents in greater detail and as accurately as possible the way in which this distinction is drawn and elaborated by the American philosopher Wilfrid Sellars, whom Dennett has supposedly followed. In the conclusion the crucial philosophical presupposition of the opposition under discussion is mentioned and a radical way of avoiding it is hinted at.