Introduction to the “Reading Dewey’s Logic” Video Series

To my mind, John Dewey is the greatest philosopher the United States has produced. He is simply unmatched in terms of the range of philosophic disciplines he contributed to and the depth and rigor of his contributions. His Logic: The Theory of Inquiry is one of a handful of Dewey’s key texts (others: Experience and Nature, The Quest for Certainty, Art as Experience). It presents his most thoroughgoing reconstruction of logic as a biologically-grounded function of human social life.

In the spirit of Gregory B. Sadler’s “Half Hour Hegel,” in which he discusses, line by line, Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, I am reading through Dewey’s Logic. While Dewey is probably more approachable to modern readers than Hegel, he is far from an easy read. I have divided Dewey’s Logic into approximately two-page chunks. In each 15–30-minute video, I read through and comment on one of these chunks. I try to make clear Dewey’s central ideas and help the listener parse Dewey’s sometimes convoluted sentences. I’ve never tried anything quite like this before, so for me this is a learn-as-I-go experience. Hopefully the videos do improve over time as I find my rhythm and bond with the material.

This series is certainly not for everyone. I don’t expect it to be popular. But if you want a rich understanding of how logic fits into human life and to develop your own critical thinking skills, Dewey’s Logic is a great place to start. In Dewey’s hands, logic is not a rarefied tool for philosophic analysis, but a vital part of practical and scientific activity. Hopefully this series will make this work accessible to a few more people than it otherwise would be.

YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM2d6QZHYCKUSxNjncZ9Dsy3M6_DKhk8U