SEAVER
SELLARS
the philosophy lectures. He has been pro
fessor of philosophy there since 1898 ; and
he is an Officer of the Legion of Honour
and of Public Instruction. His works are
very numerous, and his Rationalist views
may be read in his Ernest Renan (1895)
and Lcs affirmations de conscience moderne
(1903). At the International Freethought
Congress at Rome in 1904 Professor
Seaillies presented a very drastic report
on the need of Rationalist propaganda.
The human mind," he said, "can con
ceive of no ideas more extravagant or
ridiculous than it [the Church] has invented
to fool and cheat the ignorant multitude,
and to awe and suppress the intellectual
minority " (Wilson s Trip to Borne, 1904,
p. 167).
SEAYER, Horace Holley, American journalist. B. Aug. 25, 1810. In his twenty-eighth year Seaver, who was a compositor, entered the service of the Boston Investigator, and became an ardent Rationalist. He edited the paper while Abner Kneeland [SEE] was in jail, and was later associate editor with J. P. Mendum. For fifty years he edited, or helped to edit, the Investigator, and he also lectured a good deal. Mendum and he worked together in the erection of the Paine Memorial Hall. He was an Atheist and Materialist. D. Aug. 21, 1889.
SEELEY, Sir John Robert, K.C.M.G., historian. B. Sep. 10, 1834. Ed. City of London School and Cambridge (Christ s College). He was elected a fellow and classical lecturer at Christ s College, and in 1859 he went as classical master to the City of London School. In 1863 he was appointed professor of Latin at London University College. Seeley was during this period making a serious and critical study of religion, and in 1865 he published, anonymously, the work entitled Ecce Homo, which was one of the sensations of the time. In 1869 he took the chair of modern history at Cambridge University, and held it until his death. His historical works 725
(Life and Times of Stein, 1878 ; The
Expansion of England, 1883 ; etc.) are
weighty. It was expected that he would
write a critical sequel to Ecce Homo ; but
the second Rationalist work which he pub
lished, Natural Religion (1882), is as free
from criticism of the creeds as its pre
decessor. Sir John he was knighted in
1894 preferred the positive method of
expounding the human ethic of Jesus and
the case for natural Theism. He best
defines his attitude towards Christianity
in an essay entitled " Ethics and Religion "
in the Ethical symposium Ethics and Reli
gion (1900, ch. i). He strongly deprecates
hostility to Christianity, but explains that
he regards it as " the original Ethical
Society " and the Bible as " an ancient
text-book." Mr. Benn shows in his History
(ii, 442) that in his letters Sir John accepted
the beliefs in God and immortality, but
urged that they should be considered as
little as possible. D. Jan. 13, 1895.
SEIGNOBOS, Professor Charles,
D. es L., French historian. B, Sep. 10, 1854. Ed. Lycee de Tournon and Ecole Normale Superieure. From 1877 to 1879 Seignobos studied in Germany in virtue of a Government scholarship. After teaching for four years in the provinces, he became in 1883 a free lecturer at the Sorbonne ; and he has been a professor of the Faculty of Letters of Paris University since 1890. His chief works are his Histoire de la civilisation (1886) and Cours d histoire (9 vols., 1903-1906), in which his Ration alist views appear at times. He is an Officer of the Legion of Honour and of Public Instruction, and a member of the Societe de 1 histoire de la Revolution, the Societe de 1 histoire moderne, etc.
SELLARS, Professor Roy Wood, A.B., Ph.D., American philosopher. B. July 9, 1880. Ed. Ferris Institute, Hartford Theo logical Seminary, and Michigan, Wisconsin, and Chicago Universities. Professor Sellars completed his lavish education in France and Germany, and on his return to America
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