Abstract
The distinction between the manifest and the scientific image of man-
in-the-world is widely seen as crucial to Wilfrid Sellars's philosophical work. The
present essay agrees with this view. It contends, however, that precisely because
the distinction is important, we should not hurry to a quick and superficial
understanding of it. The essay identifies several oversimplifications that can be
found in the literature on the topic and argues that they are at least partly rooted
in too rigid a view of the role that the two-image distinction plays in Sellars's
philosophy. It shows that this rigid approach is quite common in the secondary
literature, either explicitly or by implication. It then presents a more cautious,
flexible approach to the problem of the two images and explains why this
approach is fruitful on the basis of textual evidence, along with the overall
advantages of interpreting Sellars's thought as a whole.