While Wilfrid Sellars¿ philosophy is often depicted in an ahistorical fashion, this book explores the consequences of placing his work in its historical context. In order to show how Sellars¿ early publications depend on contextual factors, Peter Olen reconstructs the conceptions of language, psychological, and social explanation that dominated American philosophy in the early 20th century. Because of Sellars¿ differing explanations of language and behaviour, Olen argues that many of Sellars¿ early commitments are incompatible with his later works. In the course of doing so, Olen highlights problematic tensions between Sellars¿ early and later conceptions of language, meta-philosophy, and normativity. Supplementing the main text is a