Understanding John Dewey: Nature and Cooperative Intelligence

by James Campbell

Overview

"This beautifully written work is the best general introduction to Dewey's philosophy. The exposition is greatly enriched by Campbell's provision of the historical context of Dewey's aims and enquiries". -- James Gouinlock Emory University

"Understanding John Dewey will be as useful to those coming to Dewey for the first time as to Dewey specialists. Few scholars combine as well as Campbell does deep knowledge of American intellectual history and skill in philosophical analysis". -- Peter H. Hare Editor, Transactions of the Peirce Society

"A book not merely readable but elegant and lucid, not merely adequate but exemplary in its scholarship. Campbell's exposition is a skillfully crafted matrix in which Dewey's own words achieve a momentum and clarity seldom achieved in their original settings, while a chorus, composed mostly of Dewey's contemporaries, provide illuminating commentary from Campbell's footnotes". -- International Studies in Philosophy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812692853
Publisher:	Open Court Publishing Company
Publication date:	01/28/1995
Series:	International Studies in Philosophy
Pages:	322
Product dimensions:	5.96(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.82(d)

Editorial Reviews

Campbell's comprehensive introduction to John Dewey's thought is a welcome addition to the literature about a thinker who has had such influence on North American education and thought in the 20th century. Beginning with an analysis of Dewey's views of human nature and the roots of those views in the ideas of William James and Charles Darwin, Campbell proceeds to an examination of Dewey's concept of the role of philosophy in human life. The second half of the book focuses on Dewey's social vision and the belief that pervades his writings that humans are social creatures "who, if they are `not bound together in associations...are monstrosities.'" Apart from the thoroughness of his scholarship, Campbell's writing is clear and precise, making comprehensible even difficult concepts. Wisely, Campbell lets Dewey speak for himself through a judicious use of quotes from a wide selection of his writings. Though others have delved more deeply into various aspects of Dewey's work (viz., his views on the religious life), Campbell offers the best one-volume exposition of Dewey to come along in some time. Its appearance now, when Dewey's collected works have at last appeared in print, is most timely. Recommended for all academic and large public libraries.Terry Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec

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