This insightful and provocative discussion of John Dewey’s philosophy appears a decade after Richard Gale’s publication of his important book The Divided Self of William James (Cambridge University Press, 1999). In that earlier work, Gale exposed and explored the tension in James’s thought between the robust Promethean tendency to pursue a “morally strenuous life” and a passive mystical tendency toward unity with that which is greater than oneself. The present study is a kind of sequel to that work, as Gale shows the same tendencies to be operative in Dewey’s philosophy, however, not remaining in tension (as with James) but finally integrated or synthesized, so that he can be accurately portrayed as a “Promethean mystic.” On Gale’s account, this is precisely what makes Dewey’s philosophy so “exciting,” at the same time that his journey toward this integrated perspective leads him to embrace certain conclusions that Gale rejects as problematic. The result of these deliberations is a book that is as thoughtful and vigorously argued as it is in some respects “quirky” (this is at least occasionally true both of the prose style and of some of the book’s arguments).

The book consists of eight chapters, equally divided into two parts. The first part focuses on Dewey’s theory of inquiry and the second on his more properly metaphysical writings. In Gale’s opinion, Dewey’s numerous assertions about inquiry, while both historically influential and philosophically significant, are nevertheless...