Making It Explicit

Making It Explicit presents a systematic theory of language, meaning, and rationality grounded in social practices. The work spans over 700 pages and draws from philosophy of language, logic, and pragmatism. Brandom develops an account of how implicit knowledge and abilities become explicit through language use and inference. He connects this to theories of truth, reference, and representation through detailed analyses of philosophers like Kant, Frege, and Sellars. The book maps the relationships between meaning, belief, action, and social norms in human communication. It examines how speakers keep track of commitments and entitlements in conversation through what Brandom calls "deontic scorekeeping." This foundational text reimagines the nature of concepts, understanding, and rationality in terms of social practices rather than mental states or representations. The work aims to move beyond both traditional Cartesian and behaviorist approaches to mind and meaning.

Readers describe Making It Explicit as dense, challenging philosophical text that requires significant effort and multiple readings to grasp. Readers noted: - Clear explanations of inferentialism and social practices in meaning - Detailed analysis of language and rationality - Strong engagement with philosophers like Kant, Hegel, and Wittgenstein Common criticisms: - Excessive length (800+ pages) with repetitive sections - Complex, technical writing style that obscures key points - Could have been edited down significantly - Too many specialized terms and neologisms From online reviews: "Like trying to drink from a fire hose" - Goodreads reviewer "Important ideas buried under impenetrable prose" - Amazon review "Takes 200 pages to say what could be said in 20" - Philosophy forum post Ratings: Goodreads: 4.17/5 (90 ratings) Amazon: 4.1/5 (22 ratings) Most readers recommend starting with Brandom's shorter works before attempting this text.

Mind and World by John McDowell The text examines the relationship between mind and reality through a neo-Hegelian lens that builds on Sellars' critique of the myth of the given.

Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind by Wilfrid Sellars This work presents the foundational critique of the given that influences Brandom's inferentialist approach to meaning and knowledge.

The Bounds of Sense by Peter Strawson The book reconstructs Kant's transcendental arguments while developing a descriptive metaphysics that connects to Brandom's social pragmatism.

Truth and Truthmakers by D.M. Armstrong The text develops a systematic theory of truth and fact that provides a realist counterpoint to Brandom's pragmatic theory of truth.

From a Logical Point of View by W.V.O. Quine These essays establish the holistic approach to meaning and knowledge that Brandom incorporates into his inferentialist framework.

🔷 Making It Explicit (1994) took Robert Brandom over 10 years to write and spans nearly 750 pages, making it one of the most comprehensive works in contemporary philosophy of language. 🔷 The book introduces "inferentialism" as an alternative to traditional representational theories of meaning, suggesting that the meaning of concepts comes from their role in reasoning rather than their relationship to objects. 🔷 Brandom was strongly influenced by his teacher Wilfrid Sellars and sought to combine elements of American pragmatism with German idealism, particularly drawing from Kant and Hegel. 🔷 The work has been praised by Jürgen Habermas as "a milestone in theoretical philosophy" and has influenced fields beyond philosophy, including cognitive science and artificial intelligence. 🔷 Despite its complexity and technical nature, the book has become required reading in many graduate philosophy programs and has been translated into multiple languages, including German, Spanish, and Chinese.