Reading Dewey: interpretations for a postmodern generation

Abstract

John Dewey (1859-1952), hailed during his lifetime as America's Philosopher, is now recognized as one of the seminal thinkers of the twentieth century. His critical work ranged more broadly than that of either of his contemporaries, Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein, and he anticipated by several decades some of their most trenchant insights. Dewey's ground breaking contributions to philosophy, psychology, and educational theory continue to animate research on the cutting edges of those fields. The twelve original interpretive essays included here locate Dewey's major works within their historical context and present a timely reevaluation of each of the major areas of his broad philosophical reach. They explore his contributions to logic, ethics, social and political philosophy, the philosophies of religion and art, metaphysics, and the philosophy of the human sciences. They also locate Dewey's work as it relates to the dominant strands of modern philosophy, as it participates in the major debates of continental philosophy from phenomenology to post-structuralism, and as an early contribution to feminist thought. The contributors are Thomas M. Alexander, Raymond D. Boisvert, James Campbell, James W. Garrison, Larry A. Hickman, Thelma Z. Lavine, Joseph Margolis, Peter T. Manicas, Gregory F. Pappas, Steven C. Rockefeller, Charlene Haddock Seigfried, and John J. Stuhr.