A life of the philosophical pragmatist and education reformer that,
like its subject, is sturdy, thoughtful, and rather drab.
"Retiring, mild manner, gentlemanly." So an FBI operative assigned
to tail him described John Dewey (1859-1949). Though the brass soon
decided that he was no threat to the country's internal security,
the FBI had reason to be interested in Dewey; after all, he was a
socialist, atheist, and all-around idealist, not to mention a
bookworm. How the practical-minded son of a Vermont grocer came to
harbor these views occupies much of this account by Martin
(Humanities/Claremont McKenna Coll.). Though given to
psychobiographical speculations that don't bring much to the table
("influenced by his mother, he yearned to be affected by his
father"), Martin does a good job of locating Dewey's work in the
intellectual traditions of the time and of explaining his
contributions to the development of an authentically American
school of philosophy: pragmatism, built on the cold ashes of
neo-Hegelianism and other imported notions. Martin also gives an
adequate account of Dewey's ideas on education, which similarly
scrapped European ideas of great books and the seven arts for an
approach befitting what Dewey called "industrial citizenship."
(Martin gamely notes that the two universities most closely
associated with Dewey, Johns Hopkins and Chicago, repudiated this
approach.). A large part of the biography is given over to Dewey's
late-life political activism, including the famous mock trial that
exonerated Leon Trotsky of the charges Josef Stalin had leveled
against him. Nowhere does Martin convey much passion for Dewey's
work, though he does make the interesting if metaphorically mixed
claim that today various strains of neo-pragmatist thought "are
beginning to form and consolidate a body of method that must and
will leave a permanent pragmatist deposit in the American mind for
decades to come." Solid overall, but less readable than the
selective and sometimes unflattering portrait of Dewey given in the
pages of Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club (2001). (Kirkus
Reviews)
During John Dewey's lifetime (1859-1952), one public opinion
poll after another revealed that he was esteemed to be one of the
ten most important thinkers in American history. His body of
thought, conventionally identified by the shorthand word
"Pragmatism," has been the distinctive American philosophy of the
last fifty years. His work on education is famous worldwide and is
still influential today, anticipating as it did the ascendance in
contemporary American pedagogy of multiculturalism and independent
thinking. His University of Chicago Laboratory School (founded in
1896) thrives still and is a model for schools worldwide,
especially in emerging democracies. But how was this lifetime of
thought enmeshed in Dewey's emotional experience, in his joys and
sorrows as son and brother, husband and father, and in his
political activism and spirituality? Acclaimed biographer Jay
Martin recaptures the unity of Dewey's life and work, tracing
important themes through the philosopher's childhood years, family
history, religious experience, and influential friendships.
Based on original sources, notably the vast collection of
unpublished papers in the Center for Dewey Studies, this book tells
the full story, for the first time, of the life and times of the
eminent American philosopher, pragmatist, education reformer, and
man of letters. In particular, "The Education of John Dewey"
highlights the importance of the women in Dewey's life, especially
his mother, wife, and daughters, but also others, including the
reformer Jane Addams and the novelist Anzia Yezierska. A fitting
tribute to a master thinker, Martin has rendered a tour de force
portrait of a philosopher and social activist in full, seamlessly
reintegrating Dewey's thought into both his personal life and the
broader historical themes of his time.
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