Sellars Forum: Introduction
This is a permanent forum dedicated to advancing the work of Wilfrid Sellars. Has such a thing ever happened in the past? There have, of course, been conferences on particular philosophers. And such conferences have been held for Sellars as well. As Jay Rosenberg has recounted in his Nachruf, there was a three-day workshop at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at Blacksburg, Virginia in 1976. At this gathering, a series of papers was presented about different aspects of Sellars' philosophy, followed by an informal commentary by Sellars himself, followed by audience participation. And, of course, there was also the opportunity by some philosophers to have informal conversations with Sellars privately or at dinner. Much the same thing happened at the 1987 colloquium at Pittsburgh University to honor Sellars' 75th birthday. The papers presented at these two gatherings were assembled (more or less) and published.
The first one was edited by Joseph Pitt and published as The Philosophy of Wilfrid Sellars: Queries and Extensions(1978). This is an excellent collection, but I regret that Sellars' responses are not preserved. The second conference was a much bigger event -- more of a testimonial affair. The papers presented were edited by Robert Brandom for a special issue of Philosophical Studies, the journal which Sellars co-founded with Feigl and edited for many years.
Then there were, what Jay Rosenberg appropriately calls, a mini- and a full-fledged Festschrift. The mini one was a collection of papers on Sellars' philosophy published in Noûs (1973), whose founder and editor was Hector-Neri Castañeda. The full-fledged one was a collection published by Castañeda as Action, Knowledge, and Reality (1975). These -- like the conference papers -- are critical studies of different aspects of Sellars' philosophy. Two other collections should be mentioned. One is The Synoptic Vision (1977), which includes expository essays by D.F. Delaney, Michael J. Loux, Gary Gutting, and W. David Solomon (all from Notre Dame); and a special issue of The Monist (1982), consisting of critical articles on Sellars' philosophy. Then there is the Library of Living Philosophers, whose intent is to assemble three items: an intellectual biography of the philosopher, a series of critical papers on his philosophy, and a response from the philosopher. I think this is an excellent project. Unfortunately, Sellars was not included in this Library -- though something like such a confrontation is preserved in his published responses to Donagan, Marras, Quine, and Cornman; as well as in his private correspondences. Finally, as concerns the interrogation of philosophers, there is the Sydney and Beatrice Rome interviews, Philosophical Interrogations (1964), an excellent series of BBC radio interviews conducted by Bryan Magee; the Bill Moyers interviews, and a series of recent discussions with Quine (available for some astronomical amount). Unfortunately, we have no such public interrogations of Sellars.
Which brings us to this forum in cyberspace.
Unlike the impromptu questions and answers which must be given at conferences, this forum provides for various responses: papers, comments, questions and answers. And unlike the published debates which are scattered throughout various journals through protracted time periods, here we have the opportunity for witnessing a concentrated deliberated living dialogue.
Modified June 4, 1998
[Return to Main Page][Return to Sellars Forum]