John Dewey Between Pragmatism and Constructivism / Edition 3

by Larry A. Hickman, Stefan Neubert, Kersten Reich

Overview

Many contemporary constructivists are particularly attuned to Dewey's penetrating criticism of traditional epistemology, which offers rich alternatives for understanding processes of learning and education, knowledge and truth, and experience and culture.

This book, the result of cooperation between the Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois UniversityCarbondale, and the Dewey Center at the University of Cologne, provides an excellent example of the international character of pragmatist studies against the backdrop of constructivist concerns. As a part of their exploration of the many points of contact between classical pragmatism and contemporary constructivism, its contributors turn their attention to theories of interaction and transaction, communication and culture, learning and education, community and democracy, theory and practice, and inquiry and methods.

Part One is a basic survey of Dewey's pragmatism and its implications for contemporary constructivism. Part Two examines the implications of the connections between Deweyan pragmatism and contemporary constructivism. Part Three presents a lively exchange among the contributors, as they challenge one another and defend their positions and perspectives. As they seek common ground, they articulate concepts such as power, truth, relativism, inquiry, and democracy from pragmatist and interactive constructivist vantage points in ways that are designed to render the preceding essays even more accessible. This concluding discussion demonstrates both the enduring relevance of classical pragmatism and the challenge of its reconstruction from the perspective of the Cologne program of interactive constructivism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823230181
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2009
Series:	American Philosophy
Edition description:	3
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Larry A. Hickman is director of the Center for Dewey Studies and Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois UniversityCarbondale.

Editorial Reviews

Writings by American and German scholars of the American philosopher.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

This book is a unique collaboration by leading scholars of Dewey on both sides of the Atlantic. The contributors illuminate theoretical resonance, and dissonance, between classical pragmatism and contemporary constructivism.——David T. Hansen, Teachers College, Columbia University

A substantial contribution to the theoretical literature on constructivism and Dewey's pragmatism—highly readable and lively debate that should provoke stimulating discussion among philosophers.——Nel Noddings, Stanford University

An ambitious, innovative work that seeks to bring together popular culture studies with political philosophy.——William Gavin, University of Southern Maine

The planetary reach of John Dewey’s thought comes alive in this trenchant discussion of his epistemology and philosophy of education. It is salutary, indeed, that the American and German Center for Dewey Studies provide us with this refreshingly cross-cultural inquiry.——John J. McDermott, Texas A&M University

A novel and significant collaboration by American pragmatists and German constructivists, this volume identifies, clarifies and critically develops the pragmatic-constructivist approach.——Michael Eldridge, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

This volume grew out of the remarkably successful collaboration of American and German scholars. The contributors demonstrate the international scope and intense contemporary relevance of Dewey's thought. They achieve impressive clarity in their account of the relations of pragmatism to constructivism as it developed in the Twentieth Century.——John Lachs, Vanderbilt University

From the Publisher

This book originated in a conference at the University of Cologne in 2001. It consists of a series of essays discussing the relationship between John Dewey's pragmatism and German constructivism. The latter bears many similarities to certain strains of 20th-century French thought—that of Michel Foucault in particular. Like French poststructuralism, constructivism has roots in German phenomenology, but it derives from other traditions as well. The contributions by Reich (U. Cologne) and Kenneth W. Stikkers (Southern Illinois U.—Carbondale) detail various aspects of this history, while the contributions of Hickman (SIU—Carbondale), Jim Garrison (Virginia Tech), and Neubert (U. Cologne) focus on Dewey's work. Part 2 discusses the legacy of Dewey for both constructivism and pragmatism. Hickman's second contribution raises some doubts about the constructivist project, claiming that it has become another variety of cognitive relativism, similar to French postmodernism or American neopragmatist thought. The collection concludes with an edited e-mail discussion among the contributors. This book will be useful for scholars researching the contemporary relevance of Dewey's thought and pragmatism more generally, both in the US and in Europe. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers.

Choice

An ambitious, innovative work that seeks to bring together popular culture studies with political philosophy.

University of Southern Maine - William Gavin

A novel and significant collaboration by American pragmatists and German constructivists, this volume identifies, clarifies and critically develops the pragmatic-constructivist approach.

University of North Carolina, Charlotte - Michael Eldridge

This tidy volume marks a milestone in the ongoing efforts of Larry Hickman to advocate for Deweyan pragmatism as a world philosophy. Like John Dewey himself-a social and political reformer on the international stage-Dewey's version of pragmatism is transactional, pluralistic, and resolutely cosmopolitan. In this tightly integrated collection of essays, a team of American and German educators place pragmatism and the Cologne-style interactive constructivism in dialog, and serving as an object lesson in itself for both approaches, provide a compelling argument for the international relevance of an always contemporary pragmatism.

University of Hawai'i - Roger T. Ames

A substantial contribution to the theoretical literature on constructivism and Dewey's pragmatism—highly readable and lively debate that should provoke stimulating discussion among philosophers.

Stanford University - Nel Noddings

This book is a unique collaboration by leading scholars of Dewey on both sides of the Atlantic. The contributors illuminate theoretical resonance, and dissonance, between classical pragmatism and contemporary constructivism.

Teachers College, Columbia University - David T. Hansen

The planetary reach of John Dewey’s thought comes alive in this trenchant discussion of his epistemology and philosophy of education. It is salutary, indeed, that the American and German Center for Dewey Studies provide us with this refreshingly cross-cultural inquiry.

Texas A&M University - John J. McDermott

This volume grew out of the remarkably successful collaboration of American and German scholars. The contributors demonstrate the international scope and intense contemporary relevance of Dewey's thought. They achieve impressive clarity in their account of the relations of pragmatism to constructivism as it developed in the Twentieth Century.

Vanderbilt University - John Lachs

With their significant new interpretation of the role of Hegel in the formation of Dewey's thought, Shook and Good have transformed the landscape of Dewey scholarship.

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale - Larry Hickman

1. Shook and Good are the pioneers of a new and suggestive interpretation of Hegel’s deep and enduring influence on Dewey. They show how Dewey’s preference for a humanistic/historicist reading of Hegel over the usual metaphysical/theological reading ensconced by the British neo-Hegelians is actually quite compatible with contemporary Hegel scholarship. Combining Dewey’s remarkable 1897 Lecture on Hegel with two impressive essays helping to interpret the text opens up new territory for scholars.

2. This volume offers for the first time a scholarly version of Dewey’s insightful 1897 lecture on Hegel along with their two essays by Shook and Good that go a long way in furthering our understanding of Hegel’s influence on Dewey, especially his thinking on religion, art, and the function of philosophy.

3. Shook and Good show us that the better er understand that Hegel was a better empiricist than the British Empiricist and that the Absolute Spirit is not supernal (for example, God or logical categories) as depicted by the British neo-Hegelians (many of whom, like T. H. Green are really neo-Kantians as Dewey well knew) along with many other myths, we may unblock the path of inquiry to a better understanding of how Hegel “left a permanent deposit” and deep impression on Dewey’s philosophy.

Virginia Tech - Jim Garrison

Dewey’s reception of Hegel is the decisive historical event inaugurating the American Pragmatist assimilation of German Idealism, which has become one of the most exciting themes in contemporary American philosophy. With the publication and critical annotation of this archival but important source in which Dewey systematically explores one of Hegel’s greatest works, American scholars will now have a remarkable new resource in carrying out this momentous adventure in philosophical synthesis.

Rice University - John H. Zammito

Represents an important and original contribution to scholarly research in American philosophy and in Dewey studies. It also provides further evidence of the important role that Hegelian Idealism plays in American heritages of philosophy, and contributes to our understanding of the distinctive use made of Hegel in Dewey's thought…An outstanding and useful work.

Texas A&M University - Theodore George