Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten: Philosophical exorcism: McDowell's Mind and World - Einzelansicht

John McDowell's Mind and World (1994) is one of the most in`luential philosophical
works of the past few decades and a central reference point
not only for philosophy of mind and epistemology, but also for metaethics, philosophical
anthropology, and even critical theory. This is due to the powerful and bold claim the
book puts forward: the dif`icult philosophical problem regarding the possibility of mind
in a natural world re`lects an "anxiety" that stems from the modern conception of
nature. According to McDowell's diagnosis, this is an anxiety that no constructive
philosophicaltheory can dispel -- rather, it needs to be exorcised through a new
understanding of nature. Building on Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein, and Sellars,
McDowell argues for a "second-nature naturalism" as a way of dissolving the modern
dualism between spontaneous mind and mechanical nature
by showing that nature must include our acquired "second nature". In this tutorium, we
will read Mind and World and critically examine its main ideas with the help of
commentators such as Dreyfus, Honneth, and Pippin. In addition to being an
introduction to McDowell's thought, this tutorium will provide an excellent point of
entry into central issues in recent post-Kantian philosophy.

Presentation (10-15 minutes) or an essay (3-5 pages).