Introduction to the Symposium “Horizons Unseen: Dewey’s Experience and Nature in the Archives”

Last year marked one hundred years since the publication of John Dewey’s magnum opus Experience and Nature. The significance of this work is hard to overestimate; it is a philosophical masterpiece in which Dewey gives his account of almost all major areas of philosophical inquiry. In a sense, Experience and Nature is Dewey’s philosophical “blockbuster.” And as we all know, successful blockbusters usually have both prequels and sequels. Dewey’s Experience and Nature is no exception to this rule. This Symposium will address them by analyzing two unexplored and unpublished sets archival material found at the Special Collection Research Center (SIU Carbondale), where the John Dewey Papers are housed: The Notes and Outlines for the Carus Lectures and a new introduction to Dewey's re-introduction to Experience and Nature in five installments.