BiblioVault - Books about Early Works

The Early Works of John Dewey, Volume 1, 1882 - 1898

Early Essays and Leibniz's New Essays, 1882-1888

John Dewey. Edited by Jo Ann Boydston

Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

Volume 1 of “The Early Works of John Dewey, 1882–1898” is entitled “Early Essays and Leibniz’s New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding, 1882–1888.” Included here are all Dewey’s earliest writings, from his first published article through his book on Leibniz.

The materials in this volume provide a chronological record of Dewey’s early development—beginning with the article he sent to the Journal of Speculative Philosophy in 1881 while he was a high-school teacher in Oil City, Pennsylvania, and closing with his widely-acclaimed work on Leibniz in the Grigg’s Series of German Philosophical Classics, written when he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. During these years between 1882 and 1888, Dewey’s life course was established: he decided to follow a career in philosophy, completed doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University, became an Instructor at the University of Michigan, was promoted to Assistant Professor, and accepted a position as Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. With the publication of Psychology, he became well known among scholars in this country; a series of articles in the British journal Mind brought him prominence in British philosophical circles. His articles were abstracted in the Revue philosophique.

None of the articles collected in this volume was reprinted during the author’s lifetime. For the first time, it is now possible for Dewey scholars to study consecutively in one publication all the essays which originally appeared in many periodicals.

[more]

The Early Works of John Dewey, Volume 2, 1882 - 1898

Psychology, 1887

John Dewey. Edited by Jo Ann Boydston

Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

Psychology, John Dewey's first book, is an appropriate choice for volume one in the Southern Illinois University Press series "The Early Works of John Dewey, 1882-1898." This definitive edition of all Dewey's early writings stems from the complete and comprehensive collection of Dewey materials amassed since 1961 by the Co-operative Research on Dewey Publications Project at Southern Illinois University. The years covered by these volumes are commonly considered Dewey's formative period, beginning with the philosopher-educator's first published article when he was twenty-two years old and including the longer works written while he was chairman of two departments, Philosophy (which included psychology) and Pedagogy, at the University of Chicago. In these early years, as throughout his life, Dewey's interests were wide-ranging, but because many of his writings appeared in out-of-the-way journals and have not previously been reprinted, it has been difficult for students of his work to grasp and understand that range. In addition to illuminating the scope of his interests, the present edition, that offers all his works in approximately chronological order, serves to emphasize the organic quality of Dewey's thought.

With an original publication date of 1887, Psychology us Volume 2 of "The Early Works." It appears first in the series to introduce scholars and general readers to the use of modern textual criticism in a work outside the literary field. Designed as a "scholar's reading edition," the volumes presents the text of Dewey's work as the author intended, clear of editorial footnotes. All apparatus is conveniently arranged in appendix form. As evidence of its wide adoption and use as a college textbook, Psychology had a publishing history of twenty-six printings. For two of the reprintings, Dewey made extensive revisions in content to incorporate developments in the field of psychology as well as in his own thinking. The textual appendices include a thorough tabulation of these changes and detailed evidence for editorial decisions.

In recognition of the high quality and scholarly standards of the textual editing, this edition of Psychology is the first nonliterary work awarded the Seal of the Modern Language Association Center for Editions of American Authors. By applying to the work of a philosopher the procedures used in modern textual editions of American writers such as Hawthorne, the Southern Illinois University Dewey edition is establishing a pattern for future collected editions of the writings of American philosophers.

At the time Dewey wrote Psychology, the relation between psychology and philosophy was in dispute, and he attempted to incorporate the new physiological psychology represented by G. Stanley Hall into the philosophical system and ethics of George Sylvester Morris. He wrote in May, 1886, that he wanted his textbook in psychology to be one "with the greatest possible unity of principle, so that without ceasing to be a psychology, it shall be an introduction to philosophy in general." His goal, expressed in these terms, foreshadowed the direction of his work in the years that followed, with its continuing emphasis on the interrelations among the various disciplines rather than on separate specializations. In his long and fruitful professional career, this was to be his only attempt to treat the whole field of psychology systematically. Although he maintained a lively interest in psychology, that interest was expressed in connection with his writing in other areas such as ethics, education, logic, social philosophy and aesthetics.

[more]

The Early Works of John Dewey, Volume 3, 1882 - 1898

Essays and Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics, 1889-1892

John Dewey. Edited by Jo Ann Boydston

Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

This third volume in the definitive edition of Dewey’s early work opens with his tribute to George Sylvester Morris, the former teacher who had brought Dewey to the University of Michigan. Morris’s death in 1889 left vacant the Department of Philosophy chairmanship and led to Dewey’s returning to fill that post after a year’s stay at Minnesota.

Appearing here, among all his writings from 1889 through 1892, are Dewey’s earliest comprehensive statements on logic and his first book on ethics. Dewey’s marked copy of the galley-proof for his important article “The Present Position of Logical Theory,” recently discovered among the papers of the Open Court Publishing Company, is used as the basis for the text, making available for the first time his final changes and corrections.

The textual studies that make The Early Works unique among American philosophical editions are reported in detail. One of these, “A Note on Applied Psychology,” documents the fact that Dewey did not co-author this book frequently attributed to him. Six brief unsigned articles written in 1891 for a University of Michigan student publication, the Inlander, have been identified as Dewey’s and are also included in this volume. In both style and content, these articles reflect Dewey’s conviction that philosophy should be used as a means of illuminating the contemporary scene; thus they add a new dimension to present knowledge of his early writing.

[more]

The Early Works of John Dewey, Volume 4, 1882 - 1898

Early Essays and The Study of Ethics, A Syllabus, 1893-1894

John Dewey. Edited by Jo Ann Boydston

Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

Volume 4 of’ “The Early Works” series covers the period of Dewey’s last year and one-half at the University of Michigan and his first half-year at the University of Chicago. In addition to sixteen articles the present volume contains Dewey’s reviews of six books and three articles, verbatim reports of three oral statements made by Dewey, and a full-length book, The Study of Ethics.

Like its predecessors in this series, this volume presents a “clear text,” free of interpretive or reference material. Apparatus, including references, corrections, and emendations, is confined to appendix material. Fredson Bowers, the Consulting Textual Editor, has provided an essay on the textual principles and procedures, and Wayne A. R. Leys, Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University, has written an Introduction discussing the relationship between Dewey’s writings of this period and his later work. That Dewey’s scholarship and writing was at an especially high level during 1893 and 1894 may be considered an index to the significance of this two-year period.

[more]

The Early Works of John Dewey, Volume 5, 1882 - 1898

Early Essays, 1895-1898

John Dewey. Edited by Jo Ann Boydston

Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

This fifth and concluding volume of “The Early Works of John Dewey” is the only one of the series made up entirely of essays. The appearance during the four-year period, 1895–98, of thirty-eight items amply indicates that Dewey continued to maintain a high level of published output. These were the years of Dewey’s most extensive work and involvement at the University of Chicago.

Like its predecessors in this series, this volume presents a “clear text,” free of interpretive or reference material. Apparatus, including references, corrections, and emendations, is confined to appendix material. Fredson Bowers, the Consulting Textual Editor, has provided an essay on the textual principles and procedures, and William P. McKenzie, Professor of Philosophy and Education at Southern Illinois University, has written an introduction identifying the thread connecting the apparently diffuse material in the many articles of this volume—Dewey’s attempt to unite philosophy with psychology and sociology and with education.

[more]