From article John Dewey American philosopher and educator. James Gouinlock. December 23, 2022.
John Dewey, (born October 20, 1859, Burlington, Vermont, U.S.—died June 1, 1952, New York, New York), American philosopher and educator
He was a cofounder of the philosophical movement known as pragmatism, a pioneer in functional psychology, an innovative theorist of democracy, and A LEADER OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
…
After receiving a doctorate in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in 1884, he began teaching philosophy and psychology at the University of Michigan.
There his interests gradually shifted from the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel to the new experimental psychology being advanced in the United States by G. Stanley Hall and the pragmatist philosopher and psychologist William James.
Further STUDY OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY PROMPTED DEWEY TO DEVELOP A PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION that would meet the needs of a changing democratic society.
…
In 1894 he joined the faculty of philosophy at the University of Chicago, where he further developed his progressive pedagogy in the university’s Laboratory Schools.
In 1904 Dewey left Chicago for Columbia University in New York City, where he spent the majority of his career and wrote HIS MOST FAMOUS PHILOSOPHICAL WORK, EXPERIENCE AND NATURE (1925).
His subsequent writing, which included articles in popular periodicals, treated topics in aesthetics, politics, and religion.
…
The COMMON THEME UNDERLYING DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY WAS HIS BELIEF A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY OF INFORMED AND ENGAGED INQUIRERS WAS THE BEST MEANS OF PROMOTING HUMAN INTERESTS.
…
To develop and articulate his philosophical system, Dewey first needed to expose what he regarded as the flaws of the existing tradition.
He BELIEVED THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURE OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY WAS ITS ASSUMPTION TRUE BEING—THAT WHICH IS FULLY REAL OR FULLY KNOWABLE—IS CHANGELESS, PERFECT, AND ETERNAL and the source of whatever reality the world of experience may possess.
…
Plato’s forms (abstract entities corresponding to the properties of particular things) and the Christian conception of God were two examples of such a static, pure, and transcendent being, and ANYTHING THAT UNDERGOES CHANGE IS IMPERFECT AND LESS REAL.
The Western tradition made a radical distinction between true reality on the one hand and the endless varieties and variations of worldly human experience on the other.
…
Dewey held this philosophy of nature was drastically impoverished.
REJECTING ANY DUALISM BETWEEN BEING AND EXPERIENCE, HE PROPOSED ALL THINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND DO CHANGE.
There is no static being, and there is no changeless nature.
Nor is experience purely subjective, because the human mind is itself part of nature.
Human experiences are the outcomes of a range of interacting processes and are thus worldly events.
Therefore the challenge to human life is to determine how to live well with processes of change, not somehow to transcend them.
…
Dewey DEVELOPED A METAPHYSICS THAT EXAMINED CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURE THAT ENCOMPASSED HUMAN EXPERIENCE but were either ignored by or misrepresented by more traditional philosophers.
Three such characteristics—what he called the “precarious,” “histories,” and “ends”—were central to his philosophical project.
…
The precarious
[Precarious definition: not securely held or in position; dangerously likely to fall or collapse]
For Dewey, a precarious event is one that somehow makes ongoing experience problematic.
Thus, ANY OBSTACLE, DISRUPTION, DANGER, OR SURPRISE OF ANY KIND IS PRECARIOUS.
Because humanity is a part of nature, all things humans encounter in their daily experience, including other humans and the social institutions they inhabit, are natural events.
The arbitrary cruelty of a tyrant or the kindness shown by a stranger is as natural and precarious as the destruction wrought by a flood or the vibrant colours of a sunset.
Human ideas and moral norms must also be viewed in this way.
Human knowledge is wholly intertwined with precarious, constantly changing nature.
…
Histories
The constancy of change does not imply a complete lack of continuity with the past stages of natural processes.
WHAT DEWEY MEANT BY A HISTORY WAS A PROCESS OF CHANGE WITH AN IDENTIFIABLE OUTCOME.
When the constituent processes of a history are identified, they become subject to modification, and their outcome can be deliberately varied and secured.
…
Dewey’s conception of a history has an obvious implication for humanity: NO PERSON’S FATE IS SEALED BY ANTECEDENT GIVENS, including human nature, temperament, character, talent, or social role.
This is why Dewey was so concerned with developing a philosophy of education.
With an appropriate knowledge of the conditions necessary for human growth, an individual may develop in any of a variety of ways.
The object of education is thus to promote the fruition of an active history of a specific kind—a human history.
…
Ends and goods
Since at least the time of Aristotle (384–322 BCE), many Western philosophers have made use of the notion of end, or final cause—i.e., a cause conceived of as a natural purpose or goal.
IN ETHICS, ENDS ARE THE NATURAL OR CONSCIOUSLY DETERMINED GOALS OF MORAL ACTIONS; THEY ARE MORAL ABSOLUTES, SUCH AS HAPPINESS OR “THE GOOD,” that human actions are designed to bring about.
But such ends must be discerned before they can be fully attained.
…
For Dewey, an end is a deliberately constructed outcome of a history.
Hence, his expression “the construction of good” encapsulates much of the significance of his philosophy.
A person confronted by a spontaneous intrusion of the precarious world into the seemingly steady course of his life will identify and analyze the constituents of his particular situation and then consider what changes he might introduce in order to produce, in Dewey’s parlance, a “consummatory” end.
Such an end is a fulfillment of these particular conditions, and it is unique to them.
Similarly, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ABSOLUTE GOOD AGAINST WHICH ACTIONS MAY BE EVALUATED.
Rather, any constructed end that promotes human flourishing while taking into account the precarious is a good.
…
Dewey joined and gave direction to American pragmatism, which had been initiated by the logician and philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce in the mid-19th century and continued into the early 20th century by William James, among other thinkers.
Anticipating Dewey, JAMES REGARDED REALITY AS AN ARRAY OF “BUZZING” RATHER THAN STATIC DATA, and he argued the distinction between mental experience and the physical world is “messy” rather than pristine.
…
Another theme of early pragmatism, also adopted by Dewey, was the importance of experimental inquiry.
Peirce praised the scientific method’s openness to repeated testing and revision of hypotheses, and he WARNED AGAINST TREATING ANY IDEA AS AN INFALLIBLE REFLECTION OF REALITY.
In general, pragmatists were inspired by the dramatic advances in science and technology during the 19th century—indeed, many had formal scientific training and performed experiments in the natural, physical, or social sciences.
…
Dewey’s particular version of pragmatism, which he called “instrumentalism.” HIS VIEW WAS KNOWLEDGE RESULTS FROM THE DISCERNMENT OF CORRELATIONS BETWEEN EVENTS, OR PROCESSES OF CHANGE.
Inquiry requires an active participation in such processes.
The inquirer introduces specific variations in processes to determine what differences thereby occur in related processes and measures how a given event changes in relation to variations in associated events.
For example, experimental inquiry may seek to discern how malignancies in a human organism change in relation to variations in specific forms of treatment, or how students become better learners when exposed to particular methods of instruction.
…
True to the name he gave it, and in keeping with earlier pragmatists, DEWEY HELD IDEAS ARE INSTRUMENTS, OR TOOLS, HUMANS USE TO MAKE GREATER SENSE OF THE WORLD.
Specifically, ideas are plans of action and predictors of future events.
…
People possess an idea when they are prepared to use a given object in a manner that will produce a predictable result.
Thus, people have an idea of a hammer when they are prepared to use such an object to drive nails into wood.
An idea in the science of medicine may predict the introduction of a certain vaccine will prevent the onset of future maladies of a definite sort.
IDEAS PREDICT THE UNDERTAKING OF A DEFINITE LINE OF CONDUCT IN SPECIFIED CONDITIONS WILL PRODUCE A DETERMINATE RESULT.
…
Of course, ideas might be mistaken.
They must be tested experimentally to see whether their predictions are borne out.
Experimentation itself is fallible, but the chance for error is mitigated by further, more rigorous inquiry.
Instrumentalism’s operating premise is IDEAS EMPOWER PEOPLE TO DIRECT NATURAL EVENTS, INCLUDING SOCIAL PROCESSES AND INSTITUTIONS, TOWARD HUMAN BENEFIT.
…
Given its emphasis on the revisability of ideas, the flux of nature, and the construction of ends or goods, one may wonder how Dewey’s philosophy could provide moral criteria by which purported goods may be evaluated.
DEWEY DID NOT PROVIDE A THOROUGH, SYSTEMATIC RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION OF HOW AN INSTRUMENTALIST DETERMINES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.
His typical rejoinder was human fulfillment will be far more widespread when people fully realize precarious natural events may come under deliberate human direction.
However, Dewey made this claim without sufficiently weighing the problem of how people are to choose between one proposed vision of fulfillment and another, especially when there are honest disagreements about their respective merits.
…
Yet, WHILE HE NEVER SOLVED THE CHOICE PROBLEM, DEWEY DID ADDRESS IT IN HIS PHILOSOPHY OF DEMOCRACY, WHICH HE REFERRED TO AS “DEMOCRACY AS A WAY OF LIFE.”
Dewey conceived of democracy as an active process of social planning and collective action in all spheres of common life.
Democracy is also a source of moral values that may guide the establishment and evolution of social institutions that promote human flourishing.
…
However, unlike other moral frameworks (e.g., great religious traditions or political ideologies), democracy as a way of life is neither absolutist nor relativistic, because its norms and procedures are fallible and experimental.
DEMOCRACY IS A CONSCIOUSLY COLLABORATIVE PROCESS IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS CONSULT WITH EACH OTHER TO IDENTIFY AND ADDRESS THEIR COMMON PROBLEMS.
Dewey spoke of democracy as “social intelligence.”
Within a fully democratic society, Dewey suggested, people would treat each other with respect and would demonstrate a willingness to revise their views while maintaining a commitment to cooperative action and experimental inquiry.
(end of article)
… …
“Dewey did not provide a thorough, systematic response to the question of how an instrumentalist determines the difference between good and evil.”
Philosophers are always perplexed by why there always is a battle and confusion between good and evil, this is because they predictably and wrongly assume we All/oll have always and will always want more happy and less misery.
Comments
Post a Comment