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Maurice Hamington The Social Philosophy of Jane Addams Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009, x + 228 pp.
This welcome volume offers a rich presentation of the ideas of Jane Addams (1860-1935), with emphases upon her contributions to the Pragmatic movement. It is divided into two parts. Chapters 1-4 "provide a historical and theoretical foundation for Addams's social philosophy," and chapters 5-9 "discuss how Addams applied her social theories to a variety of social issues" (p. 11) including pacifism, race and diversity, socialism, education broadly conceived, and religion. There is also an introduction, an afterword, and an extensive bibliography. It is the author's hope that his study will spur further work on the role of Addams, and other women, in the history of Pragmatism and American philosophy; and I anticipate that it will.
Hamington begins with a very brief sketch of Addams's life that includes her education at Rockford Female Seminary and her brief period of medical study. What followed was a William James-like period of depression and neurasthenia that was 'cured,' as was James's, with the adoption of a career. In late 1889, she and Ellen Gates Starr (1859- 1940) opened Hull House; and that institution and Addams have been synonymous ever since. Under her guidance, Hull House became an oasis of aesthetic, medical, educational, musical, athletic, social, and civic endeavors in a densely-populated and poverty-stricken neighborhood in Chicago. It was also, as Hamington points out, deliberately organized as "a woman's space" (p. 26). Hull House played an important role in the development of the University of Chicago (opened 1892), the broadening of Chicago Pragmatism, and the life of its neighborhood. Some familiar themes, like Quakerism, are missing from this study; others, like lesbianism, are more prominent. Hamington's presentation demonstrates a very high level of enthusiasm for Addams and her work; his strongest criticism seems to be that she was "not beyond reproach when it came to matters of race" (p. 110).
Given the aim of this volume to reposition Addams within the history of American philosophy, it is important to consider what the term 'philosophy' meant and means. Despite our preference for simple definitions and histories, 'the love for wisdom' has evolved over the centuries and continues to evolve. Of particular importance...