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The Philosophy of John Dewey
A Critical Exposition of his Method, Metaphysics and Theory of Knowledge
ISBN/EAN: 9789024719808
Umbreit-Nr.: 1625649
Sprache:
Englisch
Umfang: xiii, 180 S.
Format in cm:
Einband:
kartoniertes Buch
Erschienen am 31.03.1978
- Zusatztext
- John Dewey ranks as the most influential of America's philosophers. That in fluence stems, in part, from the originality of his mind, the breadth of his in terests, and his capacity to synthesize materials from diverse sources. In addi tion, Dewey was blessed with a long life and the extraordinary energy to express his views in more than 50 books, approximately 750 articles, and at least 200 contributions to encyclopedias. He has made enduring intellectual contributions in all of the traditional fields of philosophy, ranging from studies primarily of interest for philosophers in logic, epistemology, and metaphysics to books and articles of wider appeal in ethics, political philosophy, religion, aesthetics, and education. Given the extent of Dewey's own writings and the many books and articles on his views by critics and defenders, it may be asked why there is a need for any further examination of his philosophy. The need arises because the lapse of time since his death in 1952 now permits a new generation of scholars to approach his work in a different spirit. Dewey is no longer a living partisan of causes, sparking controversy over the issues of the day. He is no longer the advocate of a new point of view which calls into question the basic assump tions of rival philosophical schools and receives an almost predictable criticism from their entrenched positions. His works have now become classics.
- Autorenportrait
- InhaltsangabeI. Philosopher of Method.- 1. Dewey's view of philosophy.- 2. Dewey's instrumentalist theory of knowledge.- 3. Dewey's emphasis on method in ethics, social philosophy, education, religion, and logic.- a. Ethics.- b. Social philosophy.- c. Education.- d. Religion.- e. Logic.- Conclusion.- II. Method and the Instrumentalist View of Man.- 1. Dewey's description of the empirical method.- a. The distinction between primary and secondary experience.- b. The ambiguity of "primary experience".- c. The incompatibility of Dewey's two conceptions of primary experience.- 2. Dewey's philosophical starting point: man's primary experience as a unity of activity, undifferentiated by thought-distinctions.- 3. Dewey's instrumentalist view of man and its relationship to his recommendation of the empirical method.- a. Man as problem-solver and instrumentalist thinker.- b. Man as social.- c. Man as moral.- Conclusion.- III. Scientific Foundations of the Instrumentalist View of Man.- 1. Biology.- 2. Psychology.- 3. Social theories.- a. General background: Comte, Hegel, Bacon, and Concorcet.- b. Empirical support from the social sciences.- (1) Anthropology.- (2) Sociology and social psychology: the stimulus of Mead, Small, and Thomas.- Conclusion.- IV. The Instrumentalist View of the World.- 1. Dewey's view of metaphysics.- 2. Dewey's view of the world.- a. Change, plurality, and contingency.- b. Naturalism vs. supernaturalism.- 3. Nature and empirical method.- V. Change.- 1. Structure and process.- 2. Dewey's view as an alternative to the quest for substance and essence.- 3. The dual role of events.- a. Events as the uninterpreted data of immediate experience.- b. Events as the ultimate constituents of nature.- c. A dilemma reflecting opposing tendencies in Dewey's thought.- VI. Contingency.- 1. Dewey's reasons for believing that there is contingency in nature.- a. Direct support.- (1) Testimony of unsophisticated experience.- (2) Biology: The theory of evolution.- (3) Physics: Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy.- b. Indirect support.- (1) Contingency as a condition of fundamental distinctions.- (2) Contingency as a condition of experienced world features.- (3) Contingency as a condition of the phases in human behavior.- (4) Contingency as a condition for the employment of scientific method.- 2. Further clarification of Dewey's case for contingency and assessment of its significance.- a. Difficulties in ascertaining the meaning of "contingency".- b. Human freedom, choice, and responsibility.- c. The meaning of "contingency" in decision-making contexts.- d. Some limits to Dewey's views when considered in judicial and investigative contexts.- e. Conclusion.- VII. Knowledge.- 1. Dewey's attack on the spectator view of knowledge.- a. The instrumentalist view of thought.- b. Experimental methods of inquiry.- c. Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy.- 2. Dewey's view of knowledge: its applications and limits.- a. Experimental types of knowing.- b. Non-experimental types of knowing.- c. Conclusion.- VIII. Toward a Broader Empiricism.- 1. Review of themes and difficulties in Dewey's philosophy.- 2. The quest for essence.