Online research in philosophy

n 1909, the 50th anniversary of both the publication of Origin of the Species and his own birth, John Dewey published "The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy." This optimistic essay saw Darwin's advance not only as one of empirical or theoretical biology, but a logical and conceptual revolution that would shake every corner of philosophy. Dewey tells us less about the influence that Darwin exerted over philosophy over the past 50 years and instead prophesied the influence it would (or should) take in the future. I will discuss this landmark paper and the key lessons Dewey draws from Darwinism for philosophy, and give a preliminary assessment of how well we've done so far. (Dewey would be largely disappointed.).

One of the most vexing problems in contemporary liberal democratic theory and practice is the relation between ethics and economics. This article presents a way of bringing this relation into focus in the terms offered by two incredibly influential but too-often neglected twentieth-century political philosophers: John Dewey and Friedrich Hayek. I describe important points of contact between Dewey and Hayek that enable us to begin the project of reframing contemporary debates between ethical egalitarians and economic libertarians. Cautiously recognizing these commonalities whilst remaining attentive to persisting differences enables us to better approach the difficult relations between morals and markets. Specifically, I argue for a Deweyan combination of fair trade and free trade motivated by taking seriously a Hayekian caution about states. The result is a democratic theory that importantly refuses to attribute too much political efficacy to the quintessential liberal distinction between public and private.

Dewey's project -- Cultural and intellectual background -- Rehabilitating Dewey's psychology -- The nature of knowledge -- What we know -- Feeling, will, and self-realization -- Beyond modernist culture -- A new idealism.

Despite shared philosophical beliefs about the primacy of action, its interdependence with thought, and the importance of future practical consequences, the classical pragmatists James and Dewey may be contrasted.1 Attention is often drawn to the fact that James emphasized the individual, while Dewey’s tendencies were toward the social. In this regard Dewey, more than James, resembles the school’s founder. But Peirce was more interested in applying the pragmatic maxim to “intellectual concepts” (CP 5.467), appropriate for the laboratory mind of one “saturated, through and through, with the spirit of the physical sciences” (CP 1.3). For Dewey, however, moral problems are central. The humanist element in his thought ..

Contrary to the assumptions of those who pair Dewey and Piaget based on progressivism's recent history, Dewey shared broader concerns with Vygotsky (whose work he never read). Both Dewey and Vygotsky emphasized the role of cultural forms and meanings in perpetuating higher forms of human thought, whereas Piaget focused on the role played by logical and mathematical reasoning. On the other hand, with Piaget, Dewey emphasized the nurture of independent reasoning central to the liberal Protestant heritage the two men shared. Indeed, Dewey's broad theorizing of democracy's implications for schooling can be seen to integrate the research emphases of the two psychologists.

The aim of this project is to clarify the locution “democratic virtues” as it appears in current John Dewey scholarship and as it is conceivable in certain notions and concepts within the framework of Dewey's moral, political philosophy. Dewey's theory of virtue has gained some deals in recent Dewey scholarship. As of yet, however, a few, if not all, have brought any profound insight of Dewey's conception of democratic virtues into Dewey study; the use of the locution “democratic virtues” by Dewey scholars has not yet programmed to the point of having a dearly articulated sense or definition. However, extrapolating Dewey's view of virtue being exhibited through its continuity with his explicitly elaborated theory of democracy brings it to me the fact that democratic virtue can be defined as a special feature of virtues to be illuminated in the special context of democracy. It is an attempt to formulate his theory of democratic virtues from such theoretical phenomenon. To meet successfully this aim, I demonstrate how Dewey's main conclusions about democracy are integrally reconciled with his account of virtues. Accordingly, much of discussion in this project will be, first of all, of Dewey's theory of democracy as experience, but not simply as political form of government, secondly, of his account of virtues as human disposition formed in and with experience, in other words, as the art of experience, and finally, of his argument of how democratic virtues are essential to the realization of our democratic life: that is, of his distinctive psychology about virtues in his deep social, political commentary.

I respond to the comments by Larry Hickman and Thomas Alexander about my book, A Search for Unity in Diversity: The “Permanent Hegelian Deposit” in the Philosophy of John Dewey . I focus on four issues: 1) Precisely how do I prefer to characterize Dewey’s debt to Hegel? 2) How do I justify my admittedly controversial reading of Dewey’s World War I criticisms of Hegel? 3) Where do I believe Dewey found ideas in Hegel that led him to articulate the historical fallacy? 4) How do I respond to Alexander’s concern that I have underestimated the influence of William James’s Principles of Psychology (1890) on Dewey?

John Dewey and the spirit of pragmatism, by H. M. Kallen.--Dewey and art, by I. Edman.--Instrumantalism and the history of philosophy, by G. Boas.--Culture and personality, by L. K. Frank.--Social inquiry and social doctrine, by H. L. Friess.--Dewey's theories of legal reasoning and valuation, by S. Ratner.--John Dewey and education, by J. L. Childs.--Dewey's revision of Jefferson, by M. R. Konvitz.--Laity and prelacy in American democracy, by H. W. Schneider.--Organized labor and the Dewey philosophy, by M. Starr.--The desirable and emotive in Dewey's ethics, by S. Hook.--John Dewey's theory of inquiry, by F. Kaufman.--Dewey's theory of natural science, by E. Nagel.--Concerning a certain Deweyan conception of metaphysics, by A. Hofstadter.--Dewey's theory of language and meaning, by P. D. Wienpahl.--Language, rules, and behavior, by W. Sellars.--The analytic and the synthetic: an untenable dualism, by M. G. White.--John Dewey and Karl Marx, by J. Cork.--Dewey in Mexico, by J. T. Farrell.

Dewey provides an ethics that is committed to those aspects of experience that have been associated with the "feminine." In addition to an argument against the devaluation of the affective and of concrete relationships, we also find in Dewey's ethics a thoughtful appreciation of how and why these things are essential to our moral life. In this article I consider the importance of the affective and of relationships in Dewey's ethics and set out aspects of Dewey's ethics that might be useful resources for feminist writers in ethics.

David Hildebrand has written an excellent introduction to John Dewey’s thought. It can be recommended not only for beginners but also for everyone whose conception of Dewey’s writings is based on secondary sources. Misinterpretations of Dewey’s pragmatism are far too common. Hildebrand’s clear and thorough exposition helps to avoid them, even though he does not take stands on debates concerning interpretations of Dewey’s work. Or perhaps his book succeeds in this just because Hildebrand is content to explain Dewey’s basic ideas in a truthful way. Hildebrand discusses all the important aspects of Dewey’s thought. As to religion, one might expect that Dewey’s naturalism leads to rigorous atheism, but this ..