In the first book on the development ofJohn Dewey's ethical thought, Jennifer Welchman revises the prevalent interpretation of his ethics. Her clear and engaging account traces the history of Dewey's distinctive moral philosophy from its roots in idealism during the 1890s through the pragmatist approach of his 1922 work, Human Nature and Conduct. Central to the development of Dewey's ethics was his lifelong conviction that the realms of science and morals, facts and values were reconcilable. This conviction, Welchman demonstrates, drove Dewey to reject the orthodox ethics of his day in favor of radical alternatives?first absolute idealism and later pragmatism. She reveals how Dewey came to adopt and subsequently to modify idealist ethics of self-realization. Welchman then explores the transformations in Dewey's conception of science that exploded the fragile truce between fact and value that he had negotiated as an idealist. Finally, she examines how Dewey developed his own instrumentalist accounts of moral value, conduct, and character that culminated in his best-known work of ethics, Human Nature and Conduct.

Jennifer Welchman's profile page

Jennifer Welchman is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Welchman is an excellent interpreter of the early and middle Dewey... fresh and provocative... Welchman does what few Deweyan interpreters have done; she analyzes his thinking.

Metaphilosophy

This account of the development of Dewey's ethics, with an emphasis on his early and middle writings, is the first book-length treatment of this subject. Welchman... follows Dewey's ethical thought from its beginnings in idealism through the mature statement of his pragmatic instrumentalism in Human Nature and Conduct.... A lucid, fair, and meticulously researched analysis of the development of Dewey's ethical thought and a valuable resource for anyone working in American philosophy or cultural studies.

Choice

A careful, incisive, and thorough study.... It is based almost exclusively on Dewey's own writings; secondary works are cited rarely and chiefly for the purpose of rebutting them. Historians interested in ideas will find here an internalist history of the development of a major thinker.

Journal of American History

Welchman's... account of Dewey's ethics moves along briskly. It is compact without affecting quality.

International Studies in Philosophy