John Dewey's Philosophy of Spirit

"With their significant new interpretation of the role of Hegel in the formation of Dewey's thought, Shook and Good have transformed the landscape of Dewey scholarship." -- -Larry Hickman Southern Illinois University, Carbondale "Dewey's reception of Hegel is the decisive historical event inaugurating the American Pragmatist assimilation of German Idealism, which has become one of the most exciting themes in contemporary American philosophy. With the publication and critical annotation of this archival but important source in which Dewey systematically explores one of Hegel's greatest works, American scholars will now have a remarkable new resource in carrying out this momentous adventure in philosophical synthesis." -- -John H. Zammito Rice University 1. Shook and Good are the pioneers of a new and suggestive interpretation of Hegel's deep and enduring influence on Dewey. They show how Dewey's preference for a humanistic/historicist reading of Hegel over the usual metaphysical/theological reading ensconced by the British neo-Hegelians is actually quite compatible with contemporary Hegel scholarship. Combining Dewey's remarkable 1897 Lecture on Hegel with two impressive essays helping to interpret the text opens up new territory for scholars. 2. This volume offers for the first time a scholarly version of Dewey's insightful 1897 lecture on Hegel along with their two essays by Shook and Good that go a long way in furthering our understanding of Hegel's influence on Dewey, especially his thinking on religion, art, and the function of philosophy. 3. Shook and Good show us that the better er understand that Hegel was a better empiricist than the British Empiricist and that the Absolute Spirit is not supernal (for example, God or logical categories) as depicted by the British neo-Hegelians (many of whom, like T. H. Green are really neo-Kantians as Dewey well knew) along with many other myths, we may unblock the path of inquiry to a better understanding of how Hegel "left a permanent deposit" and deep impression on Dewey's philosophy. -- -Jim Garrison Virginia Tech "Represents an important and original contribution to scholarly research in American philosophy and in Dewey studies. It also provides further evidence of the important role that Hegelian Idealism plays in American heritages of philosophy, and contributes to our understanding of the distinctive use made of Hegel in Dewey's thought...An outstanding and useful work." -- -Theodore George Texas A&M University