Date/Time
Date(s) - 05/07/2026
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Location
The Rose Battersea
On Sunday 5th July 2026 at 12:30. Kieran Quill will give a talk titled Only atoms and the void: reducing the manifest image to the scientific image
The manifest image of man-in-the-world is a concept introduced into philosophy by the American philosopher Wifrid Sellars in 1962, in his paper “Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man”, https://www.ditext.com/sellars/psim.html .
Sellars contrasted this image with the scientific image. The manifest image is how we naturally experience the world, and is personalistic and normative. This world is defined by observable appearances – phenomenology, and is replete with experiences of intentionality, meaning, purpose, agency, values and so on. It is “fraught with ought” as philosopher Tim Crane put it. These notions are entirely absent in the scientific image of the world, which is a mechanistic world of only atoms and the void. My talk will describe how the manifest image can be entirely reduced to the scientific image. This is a controversial endeavour for sure, and is often described as ‘scientism’.
We meet in The Rose Battersea, 74-76 Battersea Bridge Road, London SW11 3AG but the meeting will also be on Zoom for details see SLPC Zoom Meeting
We always welcome new speakers. If you would like to give a talk on a philosopher or a philosophical topic please contact Adrian Carter at southlondonphilosophy@gmail.com