About Roy Wood Sellars
Lived 1880 – 1973 (aged 93). Roy Wood Sellars was an American and Canadian philosopher and university teacher.
Roy Wood Sellars (; July 9, 1880, Seaforth, Ontario – September 5, 1973, Ann Arbor, Michigan) was a Canadian-born American philosopher of critical perceptual realism and religious humanism, and a proponent of naturalistic emergent evolution (which he called "evolutionary naturalism"). He was the father of Wilfrid Sellars.
Sellars received his B.A. (1903) and Ph.D. (1908/09) from the University of Michigan, where he taught philosophy for over 40 years. He also briefly studied at the Hartford Theological Seminary, the University of Paris (under Henri Bergson), and the University of Heidelberg (under Hans Driesch and Wilhelm Windelband). He made contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of science, and political philosophy.
In his 1969 book Reflections on American Philosophy from Within he described his views on materialism as evolutionary materialism, an extension to his 1922 book Evolutionary Naturalism.
He helped draft the Humanist Manifesto in 1933 and also signed the Humanist Manifesto II in 1973. Sellars was a supporter of socialism, saying that socialism was a democratic conception of economic organisation which "will give the maximum possible at any one time of justice and liberty".
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Important facts
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Roy Wood Sellars?
American philosopher (1880–1973)
When was Roy Wood Sellars born?
Roy Wood Sellars was born on 9 July 1880 in Seaforth.
When did Roy Wood Sellars die?
Roy Wood Sellars died on 5 September 1973 in Ann Arbor.
What was Roy Wood Sellars's occupation?
Roy Wood Sellars was a philosopher and university teacher.
What nationality was Roy Wood Sellars?
Roy Wood Sellars was American and Canadian.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Roy Wood Sellars. https://biography.guide/roy-wood-sellars/
MLA: "Roy Wood Sellars." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/roy-wood-sellars/.
Chicago: "Roy Wood Sellars." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/roy-wood-sellars/.
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