Blackwell Reference Online

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E pistemology A term introduced by the American philosopher W. Sellars in his essay “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind.” Many empiricists claim that there is a sort of knowledge that is directly presented to our consciousness and call this know-ledge the given. The given, to which each of us has privileged access , presupposes no learning and no forming of associations, but provides the foundation for empirical knowledge. It offers the ultimate court of appeal for all our knowledge claims about the world. All other forms of knowledge are derived from the given according to certain rules. Sellars labels the alleged existence of such know-ledge as “the myth of the given.” To call something a myth means that it does not exist at all. Sellars rejects all the central arguments that have been put forward to support the existence of the given and claims that empirical knowledge, which is a rational and self-correcting enterprise, has no need for the given. His position has had much influence in questioning the need for foundations in epistemology and other areas of philosophy. “The idea that observation, strictly and properly so-called, is constituted by certain self-authenticating non-verbal episodes, the authority of which is transmitted to verbal and quasi-verbal performances when these performances are made ‘in conformity with the semantical rules of the language’, is, ... log in or subscribe to read full text