This paper argues that Wilfrid Sellars’ concept of the “Manifest Image” is not identical to the “commonsense framework,” contrary to what many commentators believe. 1
1. Andrew Chrucky, The manifest image ≠ the commonsense conceptual framework (in the philosophy of Wilfrid sellars) – PhilPapers
Here’s a breakdown of the key points:
Sellars’ Manifest Image:
- A philosophical construct representing a worldview centered on things or substances, in the tradition of Aristotelian metaphysics.
- Excludes the category of “absolute processes” or events that exist independently of substances. Sellars believed that events could be reduced to descriptions of changes in substances.
Commonsense Framework:
- The author argues that the commonsense framework does recognize processes or events as distinct from substances. We commonly talk about events like “a flash of lightning” or “a thunderclap” which seem to exist independently of any particular substance.
- This difference in how substances and events are treated is the main reason why the author argues against equating the Manifest Image with the commonsense framework.
The Problem of Absolute Processes:
- Sellars does acknowledge “quasi-physical objects” like flashes of lightning, but struggles to categorize them within his substance-based Manifest Image.
- The author contends that these “absolute processes” cannot be reduced to things and therefore don’t fit within the Manifest Image.
- This leads to an inconsistency in Sellars’ philosophy, as he also claims that the Scientific Image, which relies on the concept of absolute processes, is built upon models from the Manifest Image.
Proposed Solution:
- The author proposes that the Scientific Image actually draws models from both the Manifest Image and the commonsense framework, which includes absolute processes.
- This means recognizing a “mixed ontology” with both substances and processes, a possibility that Sellars himself acknowledged but didn’t fully explore.
Key Takeaways:
- The paper highlights a subtle but important distinction between Sellars’ philosophical construct of the Manifest Image and the broader notion of a commonsense framework.
- It challenges the idea that events can be reduced to substances, arguing for the existence of irreducible “absolute processes” in our everyday understanding of the world.
- This has implications for how we understand the relationship between the Manifest Image and the Scientific Image in Sellars’ philosophy.
The addendum further addresses a counterargument from Johanna Seibt, who claims that absolute processes are indeed part of the Manifest Image. The author provides three arguments against Seibt’s position, emphasizing the inconsistencies and omissions in Sellars’ own writings regarding the status of absolute processes.