USyd Philosophy Postgraduate Work-in-Progress Seminar Josh Mendelsohn: 'Hegel and Frege: An Uneasy Inferentialist Marriage'
Monday, August 8, 3:30–5pm, Main Quad, Room S227 (University of Sydney) ABSTRACT: Russell and Moore's triumphalist attack on idealism was taken by a generation of analytic philosophers to reveal such deep flaws in Hegel's thought as to warrant abandoning the old German thinker in favour of newer, more fertile pastures. A wave of “non-metaphysical” readings of Hegel since the 1970s has, however, begun to facilitate a rehabilitation of Hegelian thought within analytic philosophy. Robert Brandom places himself at the forefront of this movement, citing Hegel as his central philosophical antecedent. Richard Rorty applauds Brandom's “attempt to usher analytic philosophy from its Kantian to its Hegelian stage,” but others have challenged Brandom's claim to be the torch-bearer of Hegelianism. In this talk, I will develop some conceptual tools and historical perspectives for assessing Brandom's reading of Hegel. I will lend some sympathy to Brandom's reading by exploring the philosophical motivations for his idiosyncratic model of interpretation, while also pointing to deep problems arising from Brandom's conflicting allegiances to Kant and Frege. Everyone is welcome to attend. If you would like to present or require further information, please contact Nick Malpas at [email protected] The format is 30 minutes for presentations followed by 1 hour of discussion. Since the primary aim of this seminar is to generate discussion, presentations need not be particularly polished or formal.
_______________________________________________ SydPhil mailing list: http://sydphil.info 1000 subscribers now served!! To UNSUBSCRIBE, change your MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS, find ANSWERS TO COMMON PROBLEMS, or visit our ONLINE ARCHIVES, please go to the LIST INFORMATION PAGE: http://sydphil.info
