Deweyan Pragmatism
William James Studies 1 (1) (2006)
| Abstract | a decisive move on his part beyond James. Many have pointed out that it was James who turned Dewey from Hegelianism to what becomes his instrumentalist rendition of Jamesian pragmatism.2 In this article, I will concentrate on what Dewey borrows (and changes) from James: a notion of experience meant to bridge the gap between traditional philosophical rationalism and empiricism (and meant to take the place of both), and an emphasis on meliorism. I agree with those who argue that Dewey "naturalizes" James.3 James's moral multiverse and his relatively uncritical approach to religious experience are replaced by a rather transparent religion of pluralism (or democracy) and a notion of moral faith which points from individual experience toward the pluralistic, democratic community. It would be more accurate to say that religion itself, any religious tradition, and religious experience, are replaced by the religious function in experience, through which the beliefs of the many and their aspirations form the working hypotheses of a progressive community. Faith in the existence of some religious Being is replaced by moral faith in the future, a faith which does not point to a divine Being beyond our own existences. James describes religious experience in psychological terms. Dewey wants to move beyond description. And he wants to move beyond the category of religious experience, beyond the idea that there is a special and unique type of experience which reflects a unique reality. For Dewey, the religious aspects of experience only point forward. In Dewey, James's pragmatism becomes instrumentalism. Where James may be satisfied to accept certain beliefs and experiences (including "special" beliefs and experiences) at face-value and to judge them by their consequences, Dewey demands a reconstruction of the meaning of a belief before he is willing to discuss its value; and value, for Dewey, involves the power to exert an influence at the level of community and address and redress social problems.. | |||||||||
| Keywords | John Dewey William James Pluralism | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,664 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesDavid C. Lamberth (1999). William James and the Metaphysics of Experience. Cambridge University Press.
William James (2004). The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. Simon & Schuster.
Colin Koopman (2007). Language is a Form of Experience: Reconciling Classical Pragmatism and Neopragmatism. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 43 (4):694 - 727.
Jim Garrison (2011). Walt Whitman, John Dewey, and Primordial Artistic Communication. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 47 (3):301-318.
John Dewey (1934). A Common Faith. Yale University Press.
Michael R. Slater (2009). William James on Ethics and Faith. Cambridge University Press.
John Dewey (1910). William James. Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods 7 (19):505-508.
Mark Uffelman (2011). Forging the Self in the Stream of Experience: Classical Currents of Self-Cultivation in James and Dewey. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 47 (3):319-339.
James Flaherty (2005). Rorty, Religious Beliefs, and Pragmatism. International Philosophical Quarterly 45 (2):175-185.
Sandra B. Rosenthal (2006). Experience, Experimentalism, and Religious Overbelief. The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 8:129-134.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-12-03Total downloads14 ( #83,010 of 548,999 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,320 of 548,999 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
