Making it Implicit: Brandom on Rule Following

Author: Hattiangadi A.

Source: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Volume 66, Number 2, 1 March 2003 , pp. 419-431(13)

Publisher: International Phenomenological Society

Buy & download fulltext article:

The full text article is not available for purchase.

The publisher only permits individual articles to be downloaded by subscribers.

Abstract:

In Making it Explicit, Brandom aims to articulate an account of conceptual content that accommodates its normativity—a requirement on theories of content that Brandom traces to Wittgenstein's rule following considerations. It is widely held that the normativity requirement cannot be met, or at least not with ease, because theories of content face an intractable dilemma. Brandom proposes to evade the dilemma by adopting a middle road—one that uses normative vocabulary, but treats norms as implicit in practices. I argue that this proposal fails to evade the dilemma, as Brandom himself understands it. Despite his use of normative vocabulary, Brandom's theory fares no better than the reductionist theories he criticises. I consider some responses that Brandom might make to my charges, and finally conclude that his proposal founders on his own criteria.

Document Type: Commentary

Publication date: 2003-03-01

More about this publication?

This journal is now published by Blackwell Publishing. Current issues of this journal are available from here . Backfile content is in the process of being reloaded by Blackwell, and will shortly be removed from this page and available only from the Blackwell link above. If you have any queries about continued access to this journal please contact mailto:onlinehelp@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com.
Information for Authors
Subscribe to this Title
ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites