Science, Community, and the Transformation of American Philosophy 1860-1930 (review)

152 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 3 l:l JANUARY i993 interpretation does serious damage to the "philosophical anthropology" which Westbrook sees as crucial for Dewey's democratic thought.s Thus Westhrook fails to discuss the central notion of "situation" until relatively late, and never sees its connection with the radical empiricism of William James. Westbrook also seems to accept readings of Dewey's naturalistic emergentism, such as Richard Bernstein's, which view it highly problematically. This weakens Westhrook's conclusion, which argues, righdy, that Dewey's democratic ideal is grounded upon educating the moral imagination of the community. It is the capacity to create powerful ideals of the aesthetic possibilities of human existence which keeps the democratic community constantly growing and capable of selfcriticism . If the aesthetic qualities which ultimately give human experience its depth and significance have no relation to nature, they will not provide reliable guides for living. If Dewey's aesthetics is not connected with his metaphysics, his philosophy is a lost cause. I think it was this feature which allowed Dewey to keep his radical hope, a phenomenon which remains rather puzzling in Westbrook's account of Dewey's disillusionment with various means for democratic reconstruction. All this said, Westbrook's John Dewey and American Dtmocracy is nothing short of heroic. It is one of the finest philosophical portraits in recent years. After the scrutiny the lives of Sartre, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein have received, Dewey emerges as a truly inspiring human being, a radical alternative to the dominant "professionalized" vision of philosophy which, Westhrook intimates, has not only isolated itself from the democratic struggle, but has tacitly perpetuated the technological-industrial elitism of American society in its cultivation of esoteric, antiseptic jargon, trivial concerns, and mindless program of pure research. Westbrook's recovery of Dewey contains a moral for us all. THOMAS M. ALEXANDER Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Daniel J. Wilson. Science, Community, and the Transformation of American Philosophy, 186o-z93o. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 199o. Pp. x + ~e8. Cloth, NP. This study of the development of philosophy in America from 186o to ,93 o tells the story of the transformation of philosophy in American colleges from gentlemanly reflections on and exhortations to orthodox morality to a thoroughly academic discipline . Philosophy's emulation of science and the general professionalization of higher education in America are the foci of the story told, with differing ideas of and changsFor the assessment of Rorty as an interpreter of Dewey, see James Gouinlock, "What Is the Legacyof Instrumentalism? Rorty's Interpretation of Dewey,"JournaloftheHistoryofPhilosophy28 (April 199o),and the symposium on Rorty with a confessional response by Rorty in the Tramactions of the CharlesS. PeirceSociety ~1/1 0985). Insofar as Westbrook is primarily indebted to Gouinlock's fine reading of Dewey, it is surprising he does not take Gouinlock's incisivecridque to heart. He also fails to mention Gouinlock's important introductory essays, highly relevant to the theme of his book, to TheMoralWritingsofJohnDewey(1976)and ExcellenceinPublicDiscourse:John StuartMill,John Dewey,and SocialIntelligence(1986). BOOK REVIEWS 153 ing attitudes toward an intellectual "community" being a pervasive theme. This study is a well-executed instance of intellectual history in the externalist mode. While it used to be the case that histories of philosophy (or science) were primarily internalist in that the principal motive forces behind the development were identified within the dialectic of the ideas themselves, more externalist histories are now the fashion. These latter stress the effects of extra-intellectual social and historical factors on the development of ideas. Wilson's study, while by no means ignoring internal factors, is of the externalist genre. I will return to this point at the end of the review. Wilson identifies as the first wave of the new philosophers three men trained as scientists--Chauncey Wright, Charles Sanders Peirce, and William James. Philosophy in America had been the province of theologically orthodox moral thinkers who usually functioned as college presidents. Their role was to continue and defend the establish 'ed moral-religious tradition. These new philosophers were trained to ask questions and discover new truths rather than merely defend the old. Philosophical instruction was still in the hands of the orthodox, so...