The Pursuit of Certainty (A Study on the Relationship between Knowledge and Action)

Author: (American) Dewey (Dewey, J.) wrote, Fu Tongxian translated
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-09-01
Features: The significance of a work and a philosophical tradition does not only depend on its understanding by contemporaries but also on its understanding by later generations. From this consideration, the People's Publishing House of Shanghai, with the consent of Professor Habermas, had me translate the book review I wrote in 1998 for the German translation of "The Quest for Certainty" into Chinese, as a part of this book. In this article, Habermas summarizes and analyzes the history of the reception of Dewey, as well as the entire American pragmatism philosophy, in Germany. This should help us gain a comprehensive understanding of Dewey's work. The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas calls Dewey's "The Quest for Certainty" Dewey's "influential work" and highly praises it. In this book, Dewey discusses the important significance of the intermediary role of bridging the fields of cognition and evaluation. Dewey studies the relationship between knowledge and action, emphasizes the practical significance of knowledge, and points out the inherent connection between theory and practice. This inherent connection makes knowledge a tool and means for achieving human purposes. The book narrates how the traditional method of distinguishing between knowledge and action affects philosophical concepts, explains how the coordination between the conclusions of natural science and value concepts dominates various schools of philosophy, clarifies that science itself is a form of purposeful practical action, and demonstrates that the certainty of knowledge is an ongoing pursuit.