SELLARS AND THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY - James O’Shea - Sellars’s Kant
WORKSHOP - PADUA, JUNE 23/24, 2016

“Philosophy without the history of philosophy, if not empty or blind, is at least dumb.”
W. Sellars

Sellars’ ideas play a central role in many areas of to- day’s debates -- from philosophy of mind to theory of perception, and from theories of concepts to theories of action. Sellars’ views developed in close dialogue with the history of philosophy: above all in relation to Kant, but also to Aristotle, Leibniz and Wittgenstein. These figures served not only as inspiration but also offered Sellars crucial insights for developing his own perspective. Sellars, in turn, opened up new ways of understanding their classical texts through the appli- cation of his conceptual apparatus. This workshop aims at exploring Sellars’ relationship to the history of philosophy and its potential for today’s concerns, with the aim of expanding our frameworks for understand- ing the contemporary Sellars-renaissance.