Dewey's Empirical Theory of Knowledge and Reality

Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy

by John R. Shook

The ongoing revival of interest in the work of American philosopher and pragmatist John Dewey has given rise to a burgeoning flow of commentaries, critical editions, and reevaluations of Dewey's writings. While previous studies of Dewey's work have taken either a historical or a topical focus, Shook offers an innovative, organic approach to understanding Dewey and eloquently shows that Dewey's instrumentalism grew seamlessly out of his idealism. He argues that most current scholarship operates under a mistaken impression of Dewey's early philosophical positions and convincingly demonstrates a number of key that Dewey's metaphysical empiricism remained more indebted to Kant and Hegel than is commonly supposed;
that Dewey owed more to the influence of Wundt than is commonly believed;
that the influence of Peirce and James was not as significant for the development of Dewey's theories of mind and truth as has been argued in the past;
and that Dewey's pragmatic theory of knowledge never really abandoned idealism. Shook's exposition of the unity of Dewey's thought challenges a large scholarly industry devoted to suppressing or explaining away the consistency between Dewey's early thought and his later work. In every respect, Dewey's Empirical Theory of Knowledge and Reality is a provocative and engaging study that will occupy a unique niche in this field. It is certain to stimulate discussion and controversy, forcing Dewey traditionalists out of habitual modes of thought and transforming our conventional understanding of the development of classical American philosophy.

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 1999

About the author

John R. Shook teaches philosophy at Bowie State University in Maryland. He is coeditor of The Blackwell Companion to Pragmatism and Neuroscience, Neurophilosophy, and Pragmatism.

He is also an instructor of science education for the ‘Science and the Public’ EdM online program at the University at Buffalo. In recent years he has been Adjunct Instructor in Philosophy and Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia; and Associate Fellow at the Center for Neurotechnology Studies in the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Virginia. Since 2015 he has contributed research for the US Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) program. At Georgetown University, he works with James Giordano of the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, and has mentored students in its Medical Ethics course. Dr. Shook’s research areas include history and philosophy of science, philosophy and ethics of technology, neurophilosophy, ethics and moral psychology, bioethics and neuroethics, medical humanities, and science-religion dialogue.