Description: John Dewey was an American psychologist, philosopher, educator, social critic, and political activist
Brief description:
Svend Brinkmann is professor of psychology and qualitative methods in the department of communication and psychology at the University of Aalborg, Denmark. He is the author of numerous books, including Qualitative Inquiry in Everyday Life: Working with Everyday Life Materials and Psychology as a Moral Science: Perspectives on Normativity.
Review Quotes:
"Svend Brinkmann's aim is to present 'an interpretation of Dewey's position as strong, relevant, and constructive with regards to science, psychology, ethics, and education.' The central issue concerns how we can achieve truth in an uncertain and changing world. Brinkmann challenges the idea that Dewey's work was a precursor to postmodernism, and argues that it provides, instead, a crucial alternative. He also brings out the remarkable conceptual coherence of Dewey's diverse projects. The book ends with a nicely judged assessment of the major criticisms of Dewey's approach. A fitting introduction to a major intellectual figure."
--Alan Costall, professor of theoretical psychology, University of Portsmouth, UK
"This book is a masterful exposition of the broad-ranging work of John Dewey. It exemplifies the clarity and focus on consequences which Dewey himself espoused. But more than merely summarize, it brings us into Dewey's oeuvre through contemporary concerns and scholarship, demonstrating its contemporary relevance. Professor Svend Brinkmann is, I suspect, one of the few scholars who understands the full paradigmatic significance of Dewey's philosophy."
--Alex Gillespie, co-editor, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Institute of Social Psychology, London School of Economics
"Svend Brinkmann demonstrates in this book how theory and practice can intelligently enrich each other. His look at the philosophy of John Dewey is refreshing, as it stems from the Danish cultural and intellectual traditions that treat practice-based learning as a norm, and are known from the times of SOren Kierkegaard for their deep moral attitude toward life. John Dewey's deeply American ways of thinking are in this book explained and expanded by a gentle touch, leading to general understanding of the world in terms of responsibility. Brinkmann opens new alleys for the social thought of the twenty-first century, and the reader is invited to explore those facets of Dewey's thought--aesthetic and philosophical--that usually are overlooked."
--Jaan Valsiner, Niels Bohr Professor of Cultural Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark