John Dewey and American Democracy

Robert B. Westbrook

Published by Cornell University Press 2015

John Dewey and American Democracy

Robert B. Westbrook

https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501702044

Overview
Contents

About this book

Robert B. Westbrook reconstructs the evolution of Dewey's thought and practice in this masterful intellectual biography, combining readings of his major works with an engaging account of key chapters in his activism.

Author / Editor information

Robert B. Westbrook is Professor of History at the University of Rochester. He is the author of John Dewey and American Democracy, also from Cornell, winner of the Merle Curti Award. He is also the author of Why We Fought: Forging American Obligations in World War II and the coeditor of In Face of the Facts: Moral Inquiry in American Scholarship.

Reviews

Richard W. Fox, Boston University:

Robert Westbrook has written a magisterial book about America's foremost philosopher of the twentieth century, perhaps of any century. Deeply researched and carefully crafted, it is intellectual history at its most scintillating. It will be the standard for measuring not only future work on Dewey but future work in intellectual biography in general.

A comprehensive intellectual biography of the great democratic theorist and activist.... Westbrook's scholarship is definitive, and he succeeds in defending Dewey’s work against most of his important critics, and reminding us that Dewey's concerns and ambitions are still relevant to today's world.

David A. Hollinger:

Westbrook provides a vigorous, convincing, and readable analysis of the major episodes in Dewey's career, including his conflicts with such other prominent, public intellectuals as Randolph Bourne, Walter Lippmann, Lewis Mumford, and Reinhold Niebuhr.

Neither a straight biography nor a narrow work of scholarship, John Dewey and American Democracy offers instead a briskly readable narrative of Dewey's lifework, focusing on his advocacy of democracy.... Westbrook's reconstruction of Dewey's evolving thought is detailed, sympathetic, and lucid.

Richard Rorty:

Far and away the best book on Dewey yet. Westbrook's intellectual biography is scholarship at its finest, a very unusual combination of vast learning, dialectical acuity and literary skill.... This book will do a great deal to make Dewey more available and plausible, and to help his writings shape the imagination of a new generation of Americans.

Lewis Menand:

An exceptionally intelligent, rigorous, and thorough book. Westbrook's call for a renewed appreciation of Dewey's relevance is strengthened by great learning and conviction.

Alan Wolfe:

A major event in the history of American letters.... This book should last as the definitive word on Dewey for at least as long as Dewey lived.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xix
Prologue: The Making of a Philosopher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One. A Social Gospel (1882–1904)
1. The Hegelian Bacillus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2. Organic Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
3. Chicago Pragmatism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
4. No Mean City Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Part Two. Progressive Democracy (1904–1918)
5. Reconstructing Philosophy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
6. Democracy and Education Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
7. The Politics of War Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Part Three. Toward the Great Community (1918–1929)
8. The Politics of Peace Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
9. The Phantom Public Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
10. Philosophy and Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Part Four. Democrat Emeritus(1929–1952)
11. Consummatory Experience Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	377
12. Socialist Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	429
13. Their Morals and Ours Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	463
14. Keeping the Common Faith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	496
Epilogue: The Wilderness and the Promised Land Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	537
Bibliographical Note Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	553
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	561

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 592
Illustrations
- Other: 5 halftones
Keywords: democracy and the scientific method; American Liberalism; liberalism in America; pragmatism; theory of democracy

eBook

Published: July 22, 2015
ISBN: 9781501702044