Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China is an impressive attempt at dialogue between Confucianism and American Pragmatism on the subject of fostering democratic reforms in China. It is both a history of philosophy text, highlighting Dewey's thought and subsequent Pragmatist scholars, liberalism, and Confucianism, and a polemic about the limitations of liberal thought in China. Although some acquaintance with the texts interpreted by the authors is recommended, the authors' synopses are trustworthy and ably and judiciously given. There are also generous quotes and and a and a nine-page bibliography provided.

Admittedly, I was skeptical about the authors' project, which seemed like a desperate attempt to bridge two subjects, pragmatism and Confucianism, that are both equally unprofitable, with a popular item in the news, China. I wanted an appealing interpretation of Confucianism, that would allow me to understand the cultural divide between east and west more easily. I was also interested in any study about pragmatism, which, as the authors also argue, deserves more respect. Last, I wanted a framework to understand Korean and western dialogue, since Korean interpretations of Confucianism are also relevant to Chinese reform historically, and are also a factor in Korea's relations with western countries. The book satisfied my demands more than satisfactorily.

Some readers may be angered by the authors' use of Deweyan Pragmatism to criticize traditional liberalism, but the authors have good reason. Dewey did have a small role in Chinese educational reform before the Communist Party assumed control in 1949. Dewey, and pragmatism in general, are both better exemplars of distinct American realities than liberalism. Also, using pragmatic terms, the authors couch Confucian concepts in a way more palatable and approachable.

The authors argue, that a Confucian interpretation of democracy is possible. This Confucian democracy is useful as a tool for political reform. And then, by using Deweyan thought, it is possible for Chinese and American reformers to share ideas for reform in both countries. The book, therefore, is ultimately a practical one.

The authors eschew nationalistic and philosophical bias, which is necessary for productive dialogue. This is not a book that celebrates western values over eastern ones. It has relevance also in Korea, yet, ironically, it will not convince Americans of the need for reform in their own country, especially if readers refuse to abandon implicit faith in liberal thinking. This is not a book about dead things, but a very lively, well-written, timely offering..

In an educational research and practice world dominated by reductivist, decontextualized, disembodied assumptions of cognition - this book is a much-needed challenge to educational researcher and practitioners. Garrison's book illuminates the role of the affective in learning, the emotion in motivation and relational aspects of learning. Garrison's discussion of the role of the precognitive and selective attention in the cognitive process is largely ignored in the field overall. A must read.

What do you get when you mix Rainbow Bright with Pokemon? You get Dewey Color Kids and one happy babysitter! When charged with the job of babysitting my favorite nieces and nephews, I did what any good sitter does and pulled out the arsenal. The kids ranged from 2 to 6 years of age, yet all eyes and ears were engaged in the book I held in my hands. The bright colors and delightful animation kept the youngest eyes captivated, while the words sparked the undivided interest of the eldest. This children's book offers to use color in order to build confidence, open communication and better understand your children. I'm going to have to give author Dewey Sadka some credit because he sure knows how to speak the language of a child's vivid imagination.

ddc is a very useful classification scheme.about 98%libraries through out the world uses this scheme.so i recommended this scheme for all kind of libraries.

Written by classification experts, the Practical Guide explains how to apply DDC schedules and assign and build class numbers. Revised DDC 21, the Guide includes exercises and answers designed to reinforce, through practice, the examples and explanations given in the text. Belongs on the reference shelf of every cataloging section. Recommended.

The current renaissance of American pragmatism, and John Dewey's philosophy in particular, began two decades ago with Richard Rorty's refashioning of Dewey as a postmodernist who renounces the "professional philosophy" of metaphysics and epistemology for the fluidity of conversation in the life and growth of a community. This depiction, though praised for rekindling Dewey's star, has been widely challenged by subsequent commentators. Ralph Sleeper's 1986 The Necessity of Pragmatism persuasively argues that Dewey reconfigures, rather than renounces, the logical and metaphysical grounds of knowledge. Despite an archaic Hegelian vocabulary that misleadingly suggests idealism and antirealism, Sleeper finds Dewey advancing a genuine metaphysics of existence, not merely a conversation about experience: a naturalistic realism of independent existences that enter into and are transformed by human interactions with them. This perspective is shared by most Dewey scholars, including Sandra Rosenthal, Raymond Boisvert, and J. E. Tiles. At least until now. In a profound and provocative exploration of his early philosophy, John R. Shook, presents a compelling case that Dewey's reconstruction of metaphysics and epistemology is deeper than even Sleeper imagined. Dewey did not merely abandon idealism under the influence of William James, as most assume; he transformed it in a original way that, while wholly naturalistic, is a fusion of idealism and realism that overcomes both the former's "mind-stuff" and the latter's "in-itself reality." Dewey began his philosophical odyssey with the searing desire to eradicate the dualisms of mind versus world, phenomenal versus noumenal, perceptual versus conceptual. Post-Hegelian idealists agreed that this division is ultimately reconciled in the "absolute," though they disagreed about whether the absolute is psychological or cosmological, social or supernatural; knowable or unknowable. From the very beginning, Shook argues, Dewey accepted the psychological path as sketched by James Ward, and also Edward Caird's claim that the absolute must be knowable in some sense. Intriguingly, the missing link between perception and conceptual awareness is Wilhelm Wundt's notion of volition: percepts are neither mechanically attached to concepts nor are they overlaid by Kantian "faculties of mind." Instead, a disruption of perceptual or noncognitive experience generates a desire for reconciliation that calls forth ideas that diagnose the problem and suggest ways to resolve it. Achieved solutions, in turn, forge a background of habitual dispositions that shape interpretations within the noncognitive realm. While still an idealist, then, Shook finds the essential elements of the "method of inquiry" that later anchored Dewey's instrumentalism and pragmatism. Prior to 1890, however, he still construed this as individual "mental activity," and the problem of its relation to God's Absolute Mind remained. Upon relinquishing the supernatural for the social, however, this final obstacle was eliminated. The dispositional background extends beyond the individual to the customs, traditions, and values of a culture-indeed, even the barest notions of "self" and "reality" are inconceivable without reference to such a background. This is Dewey's broad conception of "experience"-a humanistic naturalism with no trace of mind-stuff or subjectivism. In this sense Dewey is a realist, though his affirmation of things-themselves (including things we have not or may never actually discover) avoids the things-in-themselves that is the bane of metaphysical realism. To claim that things exist without an experiential background of how we may find them to exist is at best empty verbiage, and at worst hypnosis by the dervishes of dualism. Scrupulous in research, penetrating in detail, Shook's presentation is so faithful to Dewey that it will undoubtedly draw many of the same criticisms once hurled at the master. Though careful readers will be able to identify "experience" in its broadly social and functional sense, others will be confused by applications as diverse as "mental activity," "soul," "reality," "the history of the earth," and even "the metaphysical ultimate." Similarly, like Dewey himself Shook occasionally fails to remind us that the background of experience helps set up direct noncognitive "havings," in the absence of which some will mistakenly construe a naive realism of immediate "relations to things." Finally, critics may try to capitalize on the fact that Shook fully scrutinizes only the first half of Dewey's career, leaving ample wiggle room for a shift toward conventional realism after 1920. I believe this supposition is unfounded, and that future investigators who follow Shook's initiative will find Dewey expanding his early fusion of idealism and realism into an authentic tertium quid that as yet remains largely unappreciated. If so, Shook's book is not only a nonpareil study in Dewey's development, but a gateway to his crowning reconstruction of philosophy. As an indispensable step in that direction, this is one of the most important books about Dewey ever written.

When two men raced each other from Mill Valley, California to Stinson Beach (then known as Willow Camp) in 1904, they probably never realized that their race would evolve into more than just a race; it would practically become a cult following. While only a little over 7 miles, the Dipsea Race is known for its steep slopes, long stairways, dangerous terrain, and gorgeous scenery, as well as its handicapping system which, in the past, has resulted in 69-year-old men and 9-year-old girls winning the race.

This book, by Barry Spitz, does a wonderful job of chronicling the amazing history of the second oldest race in the United States. While much of the book focuses on the actual races, one of the things I liked the best about the book was the short paragraphs telling interesting, sometimes humorous, stories about each of the races. The book also includes a fold-out, full-color topographical map of the course.

If I could make any improvement to the book, I'd include more photos and make at least some of them in color. While the photos inthe book now are nice, they don't come close to conveying the actual beauty of the race.

This is definitely a book for anyone who knows and loves the Dipsea Race(like me!) or anyone who is interested in the history of cross-country running in the United States.

This is an excellent book. It is the first of its kind that I have read on such a subject. The work is richly informative, witty, articulate, and well documented. Anyone interested in recent American history, or environmental history, will think it great reading pleasure.

In this excellent read, John Dewey further exploits his concept of "experience" as foundational to human knowledge. Dewey's concept of "experience" represents a breakthrough in empiricism, as "experience" for Dewey is not merely "sense impressions" as it was for earlier empiricists. Dewey's "experience" is an iterative process and thoroughlly embodied; the qualities of each individual experience become functioning parts of one's experience in a larger sense, serving to transform the qualities one will experience under certain conditions in the future. Fot the sake of illustration, consider a child's first experience of fire: it is beautiful, exciting, and enticing, until the child gets burned: then each subsequent experience of fire contains an element of fear and danger, as the previous experience transforms the experiences to come.

Dewey uses this concept of experience to provide a theory he calls "naturalistic empiricism"; a pragmatic theory of knowledge that provides a basis for his later inquiries into knowledge and human experience. His treatment of the ontogeny of knowledge provides a compelling, thoroughly materialistic, and Darwinian account of the development of thinking in the human animal without lapsing into an isolating solipsism or into a fanciful dualism. The prevalence of Hegelian philosophy in Dewey's earlier philosophic work and his training as a psychologist provide him with an eye for solid methodology, a powerful sense of the role of social structure in human thinking, and a talent for synthesis.

Experience and Nature is therefore a profoundly social text as well, where Dewey explores the role that social experience plays in the development of knowledge and communication as human attributes, or more to the point, as human activities. I have found this book to be a profound antidote to the despair and irony in writers such as Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, and Rorty; the meaning and scope of existence is redeemed on an extremely individual level through community and relationships. This book is highly recommended for those with an eye for postmodern philosophy and theories of embodiment (Dewey is frequently compared to Maurice Merleau-Ponty), as it shares much with the hermeneutic tradition, while remaining grounded in a very scientific perspective.

excellent book for allpurpos