The name of John Dewey generally evokes hissing from conservative intellectuals. But there is at least one way in which even they ought to find his example admirable. Dewey was easily the most prominent American philosopher of his time, and over the course of an enormously long life — from 1859 to 1952 — he showed a breadth of interest, a seriousness, and a systematic thrust that reminds us of a time when philosophy was something more than the arid pastime of jargonmongers or the handmaiden of identity politics. One can hardly think of a subject, whether in technical philosophy or workaday politics, on which Dewey did not weigh in during his long, productive career.

The huge resulting body of work brought him a good deal of veneration in the years before his death. His championing of scientific naturalism, educational reform, activist government, civil liberties, academic freedom, and democratic socialism led the New York Times to enthrone the grandfatherly Dewey as “America’s Philosopher.” The University of Paris, in conferring an honorary degree, extolled him as “the most profound and complete expression of the American genius.” The historian Henry Steele Commager gushed that Dewey was “the guide, the mentor, and the conscience of the American people,” adding, “it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that for a generation no major issue was clarified until Dewey had spoken.”