The Collected Writings of Addison W.Moore

Among the several figures that surrounded and supported John Dewey's pragmatism, none shone so brightly as Addison W. Moore. After Dewey, Moore was universally recognized as the chief spokesman for the instrumentalist version of pragmatism developed by Dewey and G.H. Mead at the University of Chicago. Unlike Dewey and Mead, who were never eager to answer critics scorning pragmatism, Moore was always quick to engage idealist and realist challengers in the pages of any philosophy journal that would publish the latest news about the battle over pragmatism. His argumentative and polemical writings earned him the nickname "the bulldog of pragmatism". Like Huxley's relationship with Darwin, Moore was among all of Dewey's friends the most prominently ardent defender and professional ally. From the time that Moore was Dewey's student at Chicago in the late 1890s, until Moore's death 35 years later, he faithfully expounded the Chicago school's instrumentalist variety of pragmatism and staunchly defended it against all rivals. In Moore's writings can be found an artful and persuasive elaboration of Dewey's philosophy, composed by a clearly original and creative intellect.
This complete collection of Moore's publications brings together dozens of philosophical articles, essays and book reviews, together with his dissertation and his book "Pragmatism and Critics" (1910). Also included are writings by other philosophers to which he replied, reviews of his work, and the memorial testimonials to his life and career. The reader should view philosophical debate coming alive, as seen through the writings of a powerful philosopher commanding the engagement with rival systems of thought. This three-volume set of Moore's writings should be useful for studying pragmatism, and early-20th-century American philosophy, in its formative and most active years.