Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on the relationship between American pragmatism and ethics. This book elaborates pragmatism's distinctive contribution to understandings of moral experience, inquiry, and judgment. It shows that moral imagination can be conceived as a process of aesthetic perception and artistic creativity. It sheds light on the nature of moral judgment.
Trade Review[F]esmire's book is not only successful, but it also represents a very important addition to the burgeoning field of pragmatist ethics. His emphasis on the importance of moral imagination is a much-needed corrective, given its neglect in the scholarship. Fesmire is to be commended for offering us this fine book.Winter 2005
* Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences *
[J]ohn Dewey and Moral Imagination is a most welcome addition to the scholarship of Dewey's moral philosophy.20.1 Journal of Speculative Philosophy2006
* Journal of Speculative Philosophy *
[P]rovides a rich reading of the ethical implications of philosophical pragmatism . . . Highly recommended.
* Choice *
This is an important book that provides a superb treatment of the moral imagination. It should be welcome both as a catalyst for the revitalization of ethics and as a needed clarification of Dewey's moral philosophy. It will be useful to a diverse group of scholars and intellectuals, including philosophers, teachers, politicians, sociologists, cognitive scientists and all those who are concerned with enhancing our opportunities for forging more satisfying communities.Sept. 2004
* Journal of Moral Education *
[L]ucid, succinct, and a joy to read. . . . [A] breath of fresh air in the vast literature on traditional ethical theorizing which can be stifling to individuals trying to become moral individuals.
* Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy *
John Dewey and Moral Imagination sets forth an opportunity for teachers of so-called practical ethics. Fesmire is in effect asking us to find ways to use Dewey's rich account of moral imagination as a tool for the discovery of more intelligent solutions to the specific morally problematic situations we inevitably encounter in the course of experience.April 2005
* Ethics *
Table of ContentsPreliminary Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Revitalizing Ethics
Part 1. Character, Belief, and Intelligence in Classical Pragmatism
1. Habit and Character
2. The Pragmatic Turn
3. Pragmatism's Reconstruction of Reason
Part 2. Moral Imagination
4. Imagination in Pragmatist Ethics
5. Dramatic Rehearsal
6. The Deweyan Ideal
7. The Moral Artist
Notes
Bibliography
Index
