Roy Wood Sellars 1880 – 1973
Roy Wood Sellars was an American philosopher, long-time professor at the University of Michigan, and one of the founders of the school of critical realism in early twentieth-century American philosophy. His Critical Realism, the joint manifesto of 1920 in which he was a leading voice, defended a realism that takes appearances seriously as the means by which the mind reaches an independent world without confusing them with that world. His Evolutionary Naturalism, The Philosophy of Physical Realism, and Religion Coming of Age developed an evolutionary naturalist metaphysics. He was the father of the philosopher Wilfrid Sellars, who acknowledged a deep debt to his teaching.
Key facts
- Nationality
- American
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Analytic
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Roy Wood Sellars:
“Mind is a function of organized matter, not a substance apart.”
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Attributed to Roy Wood Sellars:
“Critical realism takes appearances seriously without confusing them with the real.”
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Attributed to Roy Wood Sellars:
“Naturalism is the philosophy that takes nature for what it is.”
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Attributed to Roy Wood Sellars:
“Religion must be reconceived without supernaturalism.”
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Attributed to Roy Wood Sellars:
“Knowledge mediates rather than mirrors the world.”