Brandom on Normativity, Reason, and Freedom - Einzelansicht

The primary working language in this Tutorium will be English.

As beings who use concepts and inhabit ”the space of reasons”, our lives are thoroughly normative. The articulation of this thought is at the heart of Robert B. Brandom’s philosophy, which synthesizes ideas from the German idealist and American pragmatist traditions in a highly original manner. Brandom’s starting point is that thought and action are characterized by normativity: by using concepts, we undertake responsibilities by binding ourselves with norms. And these normative statuses Brandom understands as fundamentally social ones, situated within discursive practices. The task of philosophy is to provide us with expressive tools for understanding the structure of these practices, ultimately allowing us to transform ourselves and our social institutions. Drawing on Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein and Sellars, among others, Brandom’s systematic thought escapes traditional philosophical labels and the trend of narrow specialization. In addition to familiarizing ourselves with Brandom’s main ideas, we will also see what kind of new perspectives this framework provides on such topics as the history of philosophy, political activity, freedom, cognitive science, and the task of critique.