Reading Brandom

Robert Brandom's Making It Explicit: Reasoning, Representing and Discursive Commitment is one of the most significant, talked about and daunting books published in philosophy in recent years. Featuring specially-commissioned chapters by leading international philosophers with replies by Brandom himself, Reading Brandom clarifies, critically appraises and furthers understanding of Brandom's important book. Divided into four parts - 'Normative Pragmatics'; 'The Challenge of Inferentialism'; 'Inferentialist Semantics'; and 'Brandom's Replies', Reading Brandom covers the following key aspects of Brandom's work: - inferentialism vs. representationalism - normativity in philosophy of language and mind - pragmatics and the centrality of asserting - language entries and exits - meaning and truth - semantic deflationism and logical locutions. Essential reading for students and scholars of philosophy of language and mind, Reading Brandom is also an excellent companion volume to Reading McDowell: On Mind and World, also published by Routledge.

Bernhard Weiss is Senior Lecturer in philosophy at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is the author of Michael Dummett (2002) and co-editor of Wittgenstein's Lasting Significance (Routledge 2004). Jeremy Wanderer is Lecturer in philosophy at the University of Cape Town.

Introduction Part 1: Normative Pragmatics 1. Thought, Norms, and Discursive Practice Allan Gibbard 2. Language not Mysterious? Charles Taylor 3. The Evolution of Why Daniel Dennett 4. Normativity of Mind Versus Philosophy as Explanation Sebastian Rodl 5. Pragmatism and Inferentialism John MacFarlane 6. Brandom's Challenges Jeremy Wanderer 7. Perception, Language, and the First Person Mark Lance & Rebecca Kukla 8. Brandom on Observation John McDowell 9. Being Subject to the Rule to do What the Rules Tell You to do Roland Stout Part 2: The Challenge of Inferentialism 10. Inferentialism and its Critics Robert Brandom 11. Brandom Beleaguered Jerry Fodor & Ernest LePore Part 3: Inferentialist Semantics 12. Inference, Meaning, and Truth in Brandom, Sellars, and Frege Danielle Macbeth 13. Should semantics be deflated? Michael Dummett 14. Representation or Inference: Must we choose? Should we? Michael Kremer 15. What is Logic? Bernhard Weiss 16. Truth and Expressive Completeness Kevin Scharp 17. Assertibilist Truth and Objective Content: Still Inexplicit Crispin Wright & Bob Hale Part 4: Responses Replies Robert Brandom. Notes. Bibliography. Index