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John Dewey's Ethics: Democracy as Experience
John Dewey, widely known as "America's philosopher," provided important insights into education and political philosophy, but surprisingly never set down a complete moral or ethical philosophy. Gregory Fernando Pappas presents the first systematic and comprehensive treatment of Dewey's ethics. By providing a pluralistic account of moral life that is both unified and coherent, Pappas considers ethics to be key to an understanding of Dewey's other philosophical insights, especially his views on democracy. Pappas unfolds Dewey's ethical vision by looking carefully at the virtues and values of ideal character and community. Showing that Dewey's ethics are compatible with the rest of his philosophy, Pappas corrects the reputation of American pragmatism as a philosophy committed to skepticism and relativism. Readers will find a robust and boldly detailed view of Dewey's ethics in this groundbreaking book.
- GenresPhilosophy
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 3, 2023
This is hands down the best book on Dewey's ethics. I have gone through many, and a few of them Pappas cites in the very beginning as examples of other books on the topic, but his is different, and different this book is, indeed.
The problem I have had while working my way through Dewey's oeuvre is a realization that what Dewey is proposing, and also uncovered through his oversavations, is incredibly powerful, but as Pappas mentions, Dewey never organized his ethics in a formal way, it is scattered throughout the numerous books and papers spread over decades, and the few attempts by others to synthesize Dewey's ethics into a comprehensive system have failed.
Pappas has managed to succeed in synthesizing Dewey's radical empirical ethics, and wonderfully weaves in the nuances Dewey used to articulate his moral vision, imbricated along with his vision of democracy.
Any serious student of Dewey needs to have this book in their repertoire.
The problem I have had while working my way through Dewey's oeuvre is a realization that what Dewey is proposing, and also uncovered through his oversavations, is incredibly powerful, but as Pappas mentions, Dewey never organized his ethics in a formal way, it is scattered throughout the numerous books and papers spread over decades, and the few attempts by others to synthesize Dewey's ethics into a comprehensive system have failed.
Pappas has managed to succeed in synthesizing Dewey's radical empirical ethics, and wonderfully weaves in the nuances Dewey used to articulate his moral vision, imbricated along with his vision of democracy.
Any serious student of Dewey needs to have this book in their repertoire.
Displaying 1 of 1 review