CFP: Sellars in a New Generation

The work of Wilfrid Sellars has touched nearly every area of philosophy, from traditional debates in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, to contemporary issues in philosophy of language and mind.  Sellars’ contributions to each of these fields were strikingly original, historically informed, and deeply systematic.  For these reasons, his influence on the trajectory of philosophy was profound.  The magnitude of this influence is, however, obscured by some contemporary visions of 20th century philosophy, which either fail to give Sellars credit for his achievements, or leave him out of the story altogether.  The aim of this conference is to revisit Sellars’ important contributions, highlighting their relevance to the questions that philosophy faces today.

Interested participants should send both a paper (word count max: 5000) and an abstract (word count max: 500) to:

Deborah Barnbaum ([email protected])

David Pereplyotchik ([email protected])

Please prepare submissions for blind review as an attachment in a doc, pdf, or rtf format. In your cover email, please include your name, paper title, word counts, institutional affiliation, and whether you are a graduate student or faculty member. 

Submissions are due by January 5, 2015. Our program committee will evaluate all submissions and send out invitations by late February.

All accepted papers will be considered for publication in an edited collection of essays on Wilfrid Sellars for the Studies in American Philosophy series, published by Pickering & Chatto Publishers.

The Graduate Workshop, to be held on the first day of the conference (Thursday, 4/30), will be an opportunity for emerging Sellars scholars to showcase and critique each others’ work in the company of faculty members.

An outstanding submission by a graduate student will also be recognized at the conference and will be awarded a $200 cash prize.