Journal of the History of Philosophy

BOOK REVIEWS 27~ I do not mean to suggest, of course, that Timothy Stroup fails to provide an illuminating account of Westermarck's ethics. His interpretation of the full range of relevant writings is by far the most comprehensive, perceptive and reliable to date. By placing Westermarck in his historical context, he reveals clearly both the major influences upon his thinking and the intellectual climate of his period. By using Westermarck's critics as an instrument for interpreting and evaluating the texts, Stroup uncovers the underlying philosophical issues arid brings out the relevance of Westermarck's ideas for contemporary ethical theory. This book will be most valuable to both the historian of philosophy and the moral philosopher. CARL WELLMAN Washington University John Dewey. Experience and Nature, the Later Works, I925-1953, vol. 1, Edited by Jo Ann Boydston, with an Introduction by Sidney Hook. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981. Pp. xxiii + 437. $22.5~ cloth. John Dewey. Essays,Reviews, Miscellany, and The Public and lts Problems, z925-27, The Later Works, i925-z953, vol. ~. Edited by Jo Ann Boydston, with an Introduction by James Gouinlock. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1984. Pp. xxxvi + 5oo. The most ambitious publication ventures in American philosophy in this century are the definitive editions of the works of Peirce, James, and Dewey. The James and Dewey editions are well along, the Peirce edition has made a significant beginning, and, we understand, a Santayana edition will be undertaken in the not too distant future. The Later Works ofJohn Dewey, i925-1953 is itself a huge project, consisting as it does, according to present plans, of sixteen volumes, an estimated eight thousand printed pages, which will include all of Dewey's work in the given time span exclusive of correspondence. The present series was preceded by The Early Works ofJohn Dewey, z882-I898 and The Middle Works o]John Dewey, i899-I924, both series published under the same auspices as the present one. The present series, like the James and Peirce editions, are definitive texts and have received the seal of approval from the Modern Language Association's Committee on Scholarly Editions. The textual principles and procedures which must be used to earn this seal are stringent and require a specialist in the field. Fredson Bowers discusses the principles and shows how they were met for volume '~ in an appendix to that volume. This discussion makes fascinating reading and rewards careful perusal. Bowers not only applies the standards but originally helped formulate them. Volume 1, in addition to containing the definitive text of Experience and Nature, includes two previously unpublished documents, namely, Dewey's unfinished new introduction written between 1947 and 1949, edited by the late .Joseph Ratner, and Dewey's unedited final draft of that introduction written close to the end of his life. 272 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Volume 2 is a potpourri of Dewey's essays, book reviews, occasional pieces, and The Public and Its Problems which, taken together, strikingly illustrate the wide range and catholicity of his philosophical and cultural interests. The twenty-four essays range from the well known "The Development of American Pragmatism" and his insightful "Naturalistic Theory of Sense-Perception" through pieces on ethics, aesthetics, art, and education to topical issues like "Is China a Nation or a Market?," "The Problem of Turkey," "Church and State in Mexico," and "Mexico's Educational Renaissance." Of the four reviews the most interesting, perhaps, since it helps one understand better his political philosophy, is the one on Lippmann's The Phantom Public. The occasional pieces include his 1946 Introduction to The Public and Its Problems, his "Dedication Address to the Barnes Foundation," and the superficial Foreword to William James Durant's The Story of Philosophy. In their Introductions to these volumes Professors Hook and Gouinlock helpfully clarify some obscure points in Dewey's philosophy and offer some cogent criticisms. Essentially, however, they are advocates of his viewpoint across the board--from his criticism of traditional epistemology (as represented in "A Naturalistic Theory of Sense-Perception") to his reconstructionist views in political philosophy . Hook, for example, rejects the criticism of Dewey's reconstructionist political philosophy to the effect that...