Philosophy
Page 21
In response to this objection, Dewey would insist that pragmatism can make perfect sense of the truth about the Nazis. While he would debunk the study of history for history’s sake, he would insist that history is a science and is therefore subject to the same rigorous standards as any other science.
If a scientific man be asked what is truth, he will reply – if he frame his reply in terms of his practice and not of some convention – that which is accepted upon adequate evidence. And if he is asked for a description of adequacy of evidence, he certainly will refer to matters of observation and experiment. It is not the self-inclosed character of the terms and propositions nor their systematic ordering which settles the case for him; it is the way they were obtained and what he can do with them in getting other things.
John Dewey, Essays in Experimental Logic (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40794/40794-h/40794-h.htm)
Genghis Khan also slaughtered millions of people. This truth is less certain and less important than the one about the Nazis because of the latter’s ongoing impact on our lives. Holocaust survivors remain and there will be living memory of World War II for a very long time.
The truths of history, like the truths of all the traditional academic subjects, are important insofar as they are practical, and they are practical insofar as they are part of our daily lives. Gaining knowledge of these truths helps solve the most important problem human beings face – namely, how to maintain a civil society. This highly complex endeavour requires the noble enterprise known as education.
Case study: Marx and historical progress
Dewey was strongly influenced by the early nineteenth-century German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831), an idealist like Plato, whom we met in Chapter 1. Hegel’s belief in an ideal realm beyond the world of sense experience led him to posit the existence of an absolute spirit of pure reason that guides the progress of history.
While rejecting Hegel’s idealism, Dewey remained convinced that the collective use of reason can bring about the gradual and continual improvement of society. His optimism pervades his philosophy and is sometimes criticized as naive ignorance of underlying problems.
The nineteenth-century German philosopher Karl Marx was also strongly influenced by Hegel’s notion of the inevitable progress of history. Marx was not as optimistic as Dewey, however. He identified major societal problems stemming from capitalism, the free-market economic system of the Western world.
Capitalism requires the existence of private property. Those with wealth (the ‘ruling class’) own businesses and hire workers (‘proletarians’) to make products to sell. Because each product has competitors, it has to be priced as low as possible. This means making the workplace maximally efficient and paying the workers as little as possible, making them miserable.
Marx advocates replacing capitalism with communism, a co-operative system that would eliminate private property so that wealth and control of production could be shared equally among everyone. According to Marx’s analysis, the history of civilization is passing through five progressive stages, the last of which will involve a communist revolution. He writes:
Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, Ch. 4 (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch04.htm)
Marx’s works have ignited powerful social movements and influenced politics around the world.
Spotlight
A history professor and a philosophy professor are sitting outside at a nudist colony.
History professor: ‘Have you read Marx?’
Philosophy professor: ‘Yes. I think it’s from the wicker chairs.’
Education
Applying pragmatism to education produced the school of thought known as progressivism. Making significant impact on schools around the world throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, progressives reject the traditional approach to learning through information-imparting and testing in favour of interactive, problem-solving projects relevant to daily life.
Dewey tested the viability of his progressive ideals by establishing a laboratory school at the University of Chicago. His students there studied chemistry, not by memorizing formulas but by baking biscuits. They studied geometry, not by deducing axioms, but by making patterns to sew their own clothes. He wanted them to rely on each other for information and ideas: to form a community of inquirers. Dewey’s laboratory school still exists. Although its success is controversial, it continues to provide a model for innovative teachers.
Dewey argues that education is a process of living, not a preparation for future living. Because life is problem-solving and problem-solving is learning, learning should extend far beyond the classroom.
Dewey embraced the liberal political views advanced by John Locke, whom we met in Chapter 7. He was convinced that democracy could achieve the liberal ideals of freedom and equality, but only to the extent that its members conceived of themselves as active truth-seekers for whom every problem is an opportunity for growth.
Key ideas
Aesthetics: The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of art
Aesthetic realism: The view that the purpose of art is to create an accurate representation of reality
Capitalism: The free-market economic system of the Western world
Communism: A co-operative economic system that eliminates private property so that wealth and control of production can be shared equally among everyone
Correspondence theory (realism about truth): The view that a statement can be called ‘true’ precisely insofar as it accurately represents reality
Expressionism: The view that art is an outpouring of inner experience
Technology: Tools, machines and other things humans invent to solve problems
Pragmatism: A naturalistic epistemology that views knowledge as the solution to practical problems
Progressivism (educational): Rejection of traditional information-imparting and testing in favour of interactive, problem-solving projects relevant to daily life
Fact-check
1 An aesthetic realist is most likely to prefer which of the following?
a Songs from the Beatles’ LSD period
b A discordant symphony
c An opera about trolls and garden fairies
d A concerto that reproduces various bird calls
2 Which of the following adjectives would be the most likely for describing an expressionist painting?
a Angry
b Realistic
c Accurate
d Photographic
3 Which of the following is not a tool, according to Dewey?
a Universities
b Computers
c An apartment building
d A beaver dam
4 Which of the following lesson plans would Dewey be most likely to recommend?
a Reading about the causes of inner-city poverty
b Working at an inner-city soup kitchen
c Reading a novel about a family living in the inner city
d Attending a lecture about poverty by a professor who grew up in the inner city
5 Why did Marx think it necessary to eliminate private property?
a Because collective reasoning must occur in public
b To maximize productivity in the workplace
c Because corruption occurs more easily behind closed doors
d So that wealth and control of production could be shared equally among everyone
6 Which of the following would be a good reason for studying sociology, according to Dewey?
a To get a good job
b To pass knowledge to the next generation
c To solve social problems
d For fun
7 What is truth, according to Dewey?
a A statement that works
b A statement that correspon
ds to reality
c A statement of absolute spirit
d A statement of expression
8 Which of the following is most likely to be an instance of true learning, in Dewey’s view?
a You finally untangled the knot in your shoelaces
b You memorized the multiplication table
c You sent a belated birthday card to a friend
d You read Shakespeare
9 In which of the following ways does Dewey think beauty is like truth?
a Both are dangerous
b Neither is absolute
c Both are an expression of absolute spirit
d Neither is attained through the use of reason
10 Which of the following is the most accurate description of Dewey?
a Revolutionary
b Reformer
c Conservative
d Reactionary
Dig deeper
James Campbell, Understanding John Dewey: Nature and Cooperative Intelligence (Open Court, 1995)
Larry A. Hickman, John Dewey's Pragmatic Technology (Indiana University Press, 1990)
Philip W. Jackson, John Dewey and the Lessons of Art (Yale University Press, 1998)
Afterword
The most enduring questions human beings have ever asked arise through the topics we covered in this book:
• Justice
• Friendship
• God
• The Soul
• Freedom
• Knowledge
• Causality
• Duty
• Happiness
• Meaning
• Language
• Existence
• Truth
The philosophers who tackled these topics have guided the development of Western civilization. Their ideas trickle down to all of us through contemporary culture, whether we are aware of it or not.
Beyond its importance on a historical and societal level, philosophy speaks to each of us on a personal level. We all have to work out how to live. This single question lies at the bottom of all philosophical investigation. By standing on philosophers’ shoulders, we gain the courage to challenge the assumptions that keep us from becoming the people we want to be.
Our survey of the greatest philosophers of Western history ends in the twentieth century. It remains to be seen what will be the most important philosophy of the twenty-first century and where it will take us.
Answers
CHAPTER 1
1 d
2 b
3 b
4 a
5 a
6 a
7 b
8 a
9 d
10 c
CHAPTER 2
1 b
2 c
3 d
4 a
5 b
6 a
7 a
8 d
9 d
10 d
CHAPTER 3
1 d
2 a
3 a
4 d
5 b
6 a
7 b
8 b
9 c
10 c
CHAPTER 4
1 b
2 a
3 d
4 a
5 b
6 d
7 b
8 b
9 d
10 c
CHAPTER 5
1 b
2 b
3 a
4 c
5 d
6 b
7 c
8 a
9 c
10 a
CHAPTER 6
1 b
2 a
3 b
4 d
5 d
6 c
7 b
8 b
9 c
10 a
CHAPTER 7
1 b
2 a
3 d
4 d
5 a
6 a
7 b
8 c
9 a
10 a
CHAPTER 8
1 b
2 a
3 b
4 b
5 d
6 a
7 a
8 d
9 d
10 c
CHAPTER 9
1 d
2 b
3 a
4 a
5 b
6 a
7 b
8 c
9 d
10 b
CHAPTER 10
1 b
2 b
3 a
4 d
5 d
6 d
7 b
8 c
9 a
10 a
CHAPTER 11
1 b
2 b
3 d
4 d
5 b
6 c
7 a
8 a
9 a
10 b
CHAPTER 12
1 a
2 b
3 c
4 b
5 b
6 d
7 a
8 a
9 b
10 d
CHAPTER 13
1 b
2 a
3 b
4 d
5 a
6 d
7 d
8 a
9 a
10 c
CHAPTER 14
1 d
2 a
3 d
4 b
5 d
6 c
7 a
8 a
9 b
10 b
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Hodder & Stoughton. An Hachette UK company.
First published in US in 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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