The Transformation of Philosophy

Author: (USA) Dewey/Zhang Ying
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: After 1903, Dewey began to shift towards pragmatism. In the following half-century, it was a period when the American industrial movement was flourishing. In his book Reconstruction in Philosophy, Dewey sought the possibility and necessity of philosophical transformation by examining the history of scientific methodology, the development of natural science, and the contradictions between scientific truth and human values. He also explored the growth points of his philosophical development and proposed tasks for philosophical transformation. He tried to closely link his philosophy with the life and economy during the American industrialization process, making philosophy a practical one, which reflected the pursuit of practical interests by the American bourgeoisie. Precisely from the empiricist standpoint of pragmatism, he attempted to transform philosophy into empirical naturalism and instrumentalism consistent with the methodology of natural science, and applied it to people's practical activities, thereby transforming the social-historical perspective into a behavioral method for dealing with various specific social-historical environments. In 1919, at the time of the shocking May Fourth Movement, Dewey was invited by Hu Shi and others to lecture in China. He watched China's intellectual liberation movement with great interest and gave multiple lectures in places like Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, and Shanxi over more than two years, greatly influencing the development of pragmatism in modern Chinese intellectual and cultural thought.