Reading Brandom

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.

'Many philosophers find Brandom’s Making It Explicit to be an impossibly indispensable book: too original, insightful and provocative to ignore, but too massive, wide-ranging, detailed and revisionist to assimilate in real time. Reading Brandom significantly lowers the barrier to serious philosophical engagement with this indisputably important work. Its well-chosen essays with Brandom’s replies bring clarity and focus to the central issues raised by his project.' - Joseph Rouse, Wesleyan University, USA'Reading Brandom constitutes a thorough discussing of Brandom's work, bringing out the different aspects and tensions in Making it Explicit. Brandom's replies to his critics shed new light on his work and move the discussion an important step forward.' - Michael Esfeld, University of Lausanne, Switzerland'Like other great philosophers, Brandom builds conceptual resources whose significance transcends his applications of them, and whose fertility and rigor will leave a lasting mark on how philosophy is done. This excellent collection of essays and replies is an invaluable resource for anyone who wishes to master Brandom's work. Regardless of one’s area of specialization, there is profit in mastering it.' - Rick Grush, University of California, San Diego, USA

• 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