John Dewey: His Thought And Influence - Tapa blanda

Contributors Include James Collins, Beatrice H. Zedler, Sister Joseph Mary Raby, John W. Donohue, Thomas P. Neill, Robert Pollock, Thomas Berry.

Foreword This collection of essays on the thought and influence of John Dewey is a stirring tribute to him. No one will be much surprised that Dewey sphilosophical friends and supporters have celebrated the recent centennial of his birth by reading papers and publishing books and essays. But when his philosophical critics and adversaries join in the celebration we can take it as a great compliment to the length of his shadow. It is praise indeed when friend and foe alike can unite to mark the achievements of so controversial a figure. It is notable that these Catholic essays honor Dewey, not by offering a new critique of his position, but by making an honest endeavor to understand and portray just what his thought and influence have been. For the most part appraisal is only incidental and by inference. This proportion of emphasis has several advantages. For one it lessens the atmosphere of unyielding deadlock in which philosophical debate and exposition so often take place. For another, correspondingly, it makes it seem more possible and likely that long-standing adversaries may find some mutual principles on which their minds are ad idem. In a day when democratic and communist nations find themselves at each others throats it is comforting to feel that some of the philosophical divisions within the West can be approached as dispassionately as they are in this collection of essays. Too often divisions and misunderstandings arise because opponents leap at each other before they have taken the others measure. Happily there is no danger of that in this book. Quite the contrary is the case. Some of the contributors to this volume have written so understandingly of Dewey that they almost give the impression of writing sympathetically as well. In fact they do write sympathetically in places.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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