John McDowell: Experience, Norm, and Nature

Few contemporary philosophers are more influential or controversial than John McDowell. His seminal Mind and World is considered one of the most significant works of late twentieth–century philosophy. Among McDowell s intellectual gifts is his remarkable capacity to combine critical approaches to historical figures such as Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, and Sellars with insightful original contributions to prominent debates in contemporary analytical philosophy. Interpreting and appropriating some of the great philosophers of the past to hone one s own distinctive philosophical vision, however, can open the door to intense critical reactions.

In a collection of original essays by major figures in contemporary philosophy, John McDowell: Experience, Norm, and Nature, explores some of the central themes in McDowell s works. One set of contributions examines McDowell s notions of perceptual experience, normativity or rationality, and nature. Another questions his readings of previous philosophers relating to these issues. Rising to the challenge, McDowell responds point by point to his critics, further elaborating his philosophical viewpoints while providing thought–provoking and penetrating analyses. The result is a lively and stimulating exchange of ideas on the nature of our place in the world. It provides invaluable insights into one of the most significant and original philosophers of our day.

Introduction.

1. Avoiding the Myth of the Given (John McDowell, University of Pittsburgh).

2. Perception and Content (Bill Brewer, University of Warwick).

3. McDowell, Sellars, and Sense Impressions (Willem A. deVries, University of New Hampshire).

4. Three Sorts of Naturalism (Hans Fink, University of Aarhus).

5. Varieties of Nature in Hegel and McDowell (Christoph Halbig, University of Jena).

6. Thought and Experience in Hegel and McDowell (Stephen Houlgate, University of Warwick).

7. Practical Reason and its Animal Precursors (Sabina Lovibond, Worcester College, Oxford University).

8. Contemporary Epistemology: Kant, Hegel, McDowell (Kenneth R. Westphal, University of East Anglia).

9. Science and Sensibility: McDowell and Sellars on Perceptual Experience (Michael Williams, John Hopkins University).

10. Reason s Reach (Charles Travis, King′s College London).

11. Responses (John McDowell, University of Pittsburgh).

Index.

Jakob Lindgaard received a Ph.D. from the University of Warwick. He has a BA and MA from the University of Aarhus, Denmark in Philosophy and Comparative Religion, and has been a ′visiting scholar′ at the University of Pittsburgh both in 2000 and 2004.