We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2024 John Dewey Prize: Jonathan Strassfeld, Inventing Philosophy’s Other: Phenomenology in America (University of Chicago Press, 2022). The John Dewey Prize is a triennial award for the best book on the history of American philosophy, broadly understood. Funded by a generous grant from the John Dewey Foundation, this prize includes a cash award of $500 and honors the legacy of the Dewey Foundation and its commitment to the scholarly study of the work of Dewey and American philosophy.
Many thanks to our terrific committee: Michelle Nickerson, Kevin M. Schultz, and Molly Worthen. The committee writes: “Inventing Philosophy’s Other tells the story of how the discipline of philosophy in the United States split into two camps, generally called analytic philosophy, which prioritizes the study of logic and language, and continental philosophy, which focuses on synthesis, experience, and reflection. Within the American academy, analytic philosophy reigned triumphant throughout the twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries, leading to a full-scale revolt among many American continental philosophers in the 1980s and 1990s—a rift that continues today. By focusing on the life and career of continental philosophy in America (the “other” in his title), Strassfeld shows how this happened. Rather than assuming that the methods of analytic philosophy were simply superior to continental philosophy at addressing key questions, instead Strassfeld shows us how the internal workings of the American academy, the interventions of well-placed allies, and sometimes just dumb luck can elevate and entrench certain modes of thinking. By intertwining philosophical analysis, institutional histories, and vibrant biographical portraits, Strassfeld explains an important but poorly understood chapter in the recent history of American philosophy.”
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