ABSTRACT
Wilfrid Sellars's conception of behaviorism can best be described as 'niche.' Sellars's reliance on a behavioristically grounded conception of meaning (in terms of the realization of functional roles in patterns of behavior) puts joint pressure on the success of both behaviorism and functional role semantics. The theoretical gamble, then, is that the success or failure of Sellars's semantics is tied to the success or failure of behaviorism. While he articulates a variety of different conceptual possibilities for behaviorism, Sellars's use of behaviorism starts with its status as the 'base' for an expansive view of human agency. In terms of behaviorism, the point is that while distinct domains of discourse may be causally reducible to their material correlates, they cannot be seen as logically reducible because of their clear difference in meaning. Verbal behaviorism—even as an incomplete and oversimplified framework for explaining inner episodes—places the realization of meaning in the patterns of behavior evinced language users.
