Sellars and the History of Modern Philosophy: (Routledge Studies in American Philosophy)

This edited volume systematically addresses the connection between Wilfrid Sellars and the history of modern philosophy, exploring both the content and method of this relationship. It intends both to analyze Sellars’ position in relation to singular thinkers of the modern tradition, and to inquire into Sellars’ understanding of philosophy as a field in reflective and constructive conversation with its past. The chapters in Part I cover Sellars’ interpretation and use of Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, Kant, and Hegel. Part II features essays on his relationship with Peirce, Frege, Carnap, Wittgenstein, American pragmatism, behaviorism, and American realism, particularly his father, Roy Wood. Sellars and the History of Modern Philosophy features original contributions by many of the most renowned Sellars scholars throughout the world. It offers an exhaustive survey of Sellars’ views on the historical antecedents and meta-philosophical aspects of his thought.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Lingua Franca of Thought: Willfrid Sellars and the History of Philosophy Part I: Sellars and Modern Philosophy 1. Sellars on Descartes Christian Barth 2. The Lingua franca of Nominalism: Sellars on Leibniz Antonio M. Nunziante 3. Sellars and Hume on the Ontological Status of Theoretical-Explanatory Entities David Landy 4. Sellars’ Interpretive Variations on Kant’s Transcendental Idealist Themes James R. O’Shea 5. Hegel After Sellars: Conceptual Connections Luca Corti Part II: Sellars and the Beginning of the Contemporary Age 6. Peirce and Sellars on Non-Conceptual Content Catherine Legg 7. Sellars and Frege on Concepts and Laws Danielle Macbeth 8. ‘We pragmatists mourn Sellars as a Lost Leader’: Sellars’ Pragmatist Distinction Between Signifying and Picturing Carl Sachs 9. The Varieties and Origins of Wilfrid Sellars’ Behaviorism Peter Olen 10. Sellars and Carnap: Science and/or Metaphysics Carlo Gabbani 11. Sellars and Wittgenstein, Early and Late Guido Bonino and Paolo Tripodi 12. Wilfrid Sellars and Roy Wood Sellars: Theoretical Continuities and Methodological Divergences Fabio Gironi Conclusions 13. Thinking with Sellars and Beyond Sellars: On the Relations Between Philosophy and the History of Philosophy

About the Author :
Luca Corti is the FCT Post-Doctoral Fellow at Mind, Language, Action Group at the University of Porto, Portugal and the International Center for Philosophy at the University of Bonn, Germany. He has published two books and several articles on Kant, Hegel and contemporary Hegelisms, as well as on Sellars and Sellarsian themes, including Senses and Sensations: on Hegel’s Later Picture of Perceptual Experience (2018), Conceptualism, Non-Conceptualism, and the Method of Hegel’s Psychology (2016), Ritratti hegeliani (2014), Crossing The Line: Sellars on Kant on Imagination (2012). Antonio M. Nunziante is Associate Professor at the University of Padua, Italy. His research is in the history of ideas and is mainly focused on issues concerning naturalism and normativity in the Early Modern Philosophy (Leibniz), in the Classical German philosophy (Kant, Hegel) and in the pre-analytic American philosophy (early American naturalism). His works include: Infinite vs. Singularity. Between Leibniz and Hegel (2015), The "Morbid Fear of the Subjective". Privateness and Objectivity in Mid-twentieth Century American Naturalism (2013), Lo spirito naturalizzato. La stagione pre-analitica del naturalismo americano (2012), Representing Subjects, Mind-dependent Objects. Kant, Leibniz and the Amphiboly (with A. Vanzo, 2009), Individuals, Minds and Bodies: Themes from Leibniz (ed., "Studia Leibnitiana", 2004).

Review :
"This volume is a valuable addition to Sellars studies. Corti and Nunziante did an excellent job of choosing the subject and bringing together an interesting group of both philosophically and historically well-versed Sellars scholars. The success of the merging of a historical, even philological, perspective on Sellars with a systematic approach to philosophical questions in particular paid philosophical dividends . . . Consequently, much remains to be done for future research with respect to this intriguing subject. Corti and Nunziante have succeeded in making a very strong case for this kind of research—and for making us aware that there is a whole new generation of Sellars scholars that is up for its complexities." – Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews