Abstract

John Dewey is one of the American philosophers strongly influenced by Hegel. For this reason, perhaps, certain Italian scholars have always been attracted to him, even when, as in the case of Croce, they strove to repudiate his doctrines. In this tradition, Aloysio's volume blazes the trail for a new approach to Dewey's scholarship in Italy. The volume issues from a seminar held at the University of Aquila during which Aloysio and his students read five works of Dewey. Significantly enough, the works chosen for such an enterprise belong to the period when Dewey bids farewell to the idealism of his youth and takes a critical look at his philosophical program of reconstruction. The chapters of the book are devoted to a critical analysis of the five books studied during the seminar: Reconstruction in Philosophy ; Human Nature and Conduct ; Experience and Nature ; The Quest for Certainty ; and, A Common Faith. The outcome is a refreshing exposition of Dewey's mature thought. The method of question and answer used throughout the book is exceptionally efficacious to evince the contemporary relevance of Dewey's fundamental notions of experience, nature, and human conduct.--L. M. P.