John Dewey, Confucius, and Global Philosophy
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Bringing together the philosophies of John Dewey and Confucius, this work illustrates a means for cultural interaction and provides a model of global philosophy.
Description
Joseph Grange's beautifully written book provides a unique synthesis of two major figures of world philosophy, John Dewey and Confucius, and points the way to a global philosophy based on American and Confucian values. Grange concentrates on the major themes of experience, felt intelligence, and culture to make the connections between these two giants of Western and Eastern thought. He explains why the Chinese called Dewey "A Second Confucius," and deepens our understanding of Confucius's concepts of the way (dao) of human excellence (ren). The important dimensions of American and Chinese cultural philosophy are welded into an argument that calls for the liberation of what is finest in both traditions. The work gives a new appreciation of fundamental issues facing Chinese and American relations and brings the opportunities and dangers of globalization into focus.
Joseph Grange is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. He is the author of The City: An Urban Cosmology and Nature: An Environmental Cosmology and the coeditor (with William Desmond) of Being and Dialectic: Metaphysics as a Cultural Presence, all published by SUNY Press.
Reviews
"…Grange's presentation of Dewey's philosophy of experience and culture as well as the parallels he develops with Confucianism are truly valuable contributions to the field of comparative philosophy." — Philosophy East & West
"…a slim but important book for next steps in the world philosophical conversation. Grange is a subtle and creative thinker, and this volume whets the philosophical appetite for more in an increasingly shrinking global village." — Dao
"Grange draws upon his sustained and substantial reading of the original reflections of John Dewey and of Confucius to bring into focus several seminal ideas from each of these two traditions that provide us with a resonance between them, and that can serve us as the terms of art necessary for undertaking such a Sino-American dialogue." — from the Foreword by Roger T. Ames
"Grange writes with a sure mastery of the relevant texts and secondary literature. His grasp of Dewey's vast corpus is outstanding and his explication of Confucius's ideas is crisp and on the mark. Grange is able to elicit connections between Confucius and Dewey without straining expert credulity or merely saying the obvious." — Robert Cummings Neville, author of Boston Confucianism: Portable Tradition in the Late-Modern World