Dewey's Selected Works - Social Science Literature Treasury - American Pragmatism Library

Author: Compiler: Jiuliang Tu, Chen Bo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: John Dewey, a renowned American philosopher and the epitome of pragmatism. He applied pragmatist thought to many aspects of social life and played a significant role in the spread of pragmatism in the United States and other countries. His knowledge was profound, and he was not only celebrated in the field of philosophy but also an influential educator and politician. He was highly accomplished in psychology, ethics, aesthetics, and sociology. Dewey's life was filled with numerous works, including over 30 books and nearly 1,000 papers. Due to space constraints, this volume selects and translates 26 of them, which are broadly divided into 7 parts, with articles in each part arranged roughly in chronological order. Given that some of his major works in philosophy and education already have Chinese translations, this volume focuses on translating those that have not yet been rendered into Chinese. For chapters with existing translations, revisions were made based on the original texts and reference to the translated versions. In the 3 articles on pragmatism, the first one provides a detailed account of the historical development of pragmatism from Peirce and James to Dewey, particularly how Dewey inherited and expanded upon the views of Peirce and James. The second article elaborates on how Dewey moved from his early adherence to Hegelian or neo-Hegelian absolutism to his later commitment to experimentalism. The third article concisely presents Dewey's fundamental views on philosophy, morality, religion, politics, and education. In the 3 articles on philosophical reform, the first one focuses on analyzing the impact of Darwin's theory of evolution on philosophy, primarily by replacing the notion of fixed concepts with the idea of change and development. The second article provides a detailed critique of the shortcomings of past philosophical views, emphasizing the necessity of reform, i.e., philosophical reform. The third article examines the traditional concepts of "experience" and "reason," refuting the basic tenets of empiricism and rationalism and advocating the integration of these two concepts through pragmatism or experimentalism. In the 4 articles on evolutionary naturalism, the first one explains the basic principles of direct empiricism, with a detailed discussion of the term "direct." The second article offers a brief response to Professor McGillvary's critique regarding the relationship between experience and reality. The third article is excerpted from Dewey's seminal work Experience and Nature, which emphasizes the close connection between the core concepts of experience and nature and provides a detailed account of the differences between experiential and non-experiential methods, advocating for philosophy to adopt an experiential approach. The fourth article explores the relationship between experience theory and natural theory and addresses the criticisms raised by Cohen and Horkheimer on this issue. In the 4 articles on the metaphysics of pragmatism, the first one discusses the distinction between metaphysical and scientific research, emphasizing that metaphysics should study the ultimate, irreducible characteristics of all existing things—diversity, interaction, and change. The second article elaborates on Dewey's views on events and time, highlighting the close connection between events and time (past, present, and especially future). The third article provides a detailed explanation of the significance of the concept of "context," emphasizing how neglecting context can lead to various harms in philosophy. The fourth article underscores the close connection between individuals and time, arguing that individuals are always part of a process of emergence, development, and dissolution in time, and continuity is the true essence of individuals. In the 4 articles on inquiry, judgment, and truth, the first one provides a detailed examination of the patterns of inquiry, including the prerequisites for inquiry, the formulation of problems, the determination of problem-solving, reasoning, facts, the operational meaning of meaning, and the similarities and differences between common sense and scientific inquiry. The second article explores the role of judgment in reflective activity, pointing out that judgment is the building block of thought, analyzing the various characteristics of judgment, and examining the functions of analytical and synthetic judgments. The third article consists of three speeches under the general title "The Problem of Truth." The first speech discusses why truth becomes a problem, offering critiques of common sense, rationalist, and scientific views of truth. The second speech addresses the relationship between truth and consequences, analyzing the theoretical dilemmas faced by coherence theories and correspondence theories, and emphasizing the superiority of the pragmatist view of truth. The third speech discusses the issue of objective truth, viewing it as an interpretation of things that effectively serves to release human goals and enhance the efficacy of human activity. The fourth article explains his view that knowledge is a warranted assertibility through a debate with Russell on the issue of truth, claiming that his view of truth is a correspondence theory in an operational sense. In the 3 articles on morality, value, and human nature, the first one discusses the three independent factors in moral behavior, emphasizing the uncertainty and conflict in moral situations and contrasting the theory of moral purpose with the theory of moral rules. The second article analyzes four key issues in the discussion of value, such as whether attitudes like appreciation,, and desire are related, whether the former constitutes a sufficient condition for value, and the distinction between evaluative and scientific propositions. The third article discusses whether human nature can change, refuting the theory of human nature as unchanging and arguing for the theoretical and practical significance of the theory of changeable human nature. In the 5 articles on science, education, and politics, the first one analyzes the interplay between science and society, arguing that while scientific development has brought abundant material benefits to humanity, humanity has yet to effectively control its negative impact on society, which is a pressing issue to address. The second article emphasizes the significant role of philosophy of education, asserting that the alliance between science and philosophy is the foundation for effective education. The third article presents Dewey's basic beliefs about education, including his views on what education is, what schools are, educational content, methods, and the relationship between schools and social progress. The fourth article provides a detailed account of the historical development, main contributions, and negative impacts of liberalism, as well as its similarities and differences with radicalism. The fifth article focuses on the concept of democracy, arguing that democracy is a way of life for individuals, with its essence lying in the belief that human experience can produce goals and methods to guide the orderly growth of future experience.