Melting Pot” a Unifying Factor in the Chinese Experience

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earth. Comparative philosophers David L. Hall Diversity, Harmony (he and Roger T. Ames, however, help to dispel what they call the “myth” of Han identity as ), and the “Melting Pot” a unifying factor in the Chinese experience. While it is unlikely that China will ever be the Jim Behuniak robustly multi-racial society that America is, it is Colby College not as homogenous as it might seem. The Han people are indeed the principle ethnic group in China, comprising over 92% of On Columbus Day in 1915, President Theo- the population. What remains are some fifty- dore Roosevelt gave a speech before a largely odd minority ethnic groups. Despite this ethnic Irish-Catholic group belonging to the fraternal imbalance, however, several demographic forc- organization, the Knights of Columbus, at Car- es—regional, cultural, linguistic, and econom- negie Hall in New York City. The topic was the ic—conspire to “create strains on the presumed emergence of so-called “hyphenated American- harmony of the Han Chinese.”1 Generated ism.” within this tension is a rather fervent need to The phrase referred to Americans who had define and retain “Chinese-ness” as a pervasive immigrated to the United States but who still quality in the face of an inexorable and multi- identified with their own cultural backgrounds, scalar dynamism. e.g. those who might call themselves Irish- Such dynamism is a feature of most natural American, Mexican-American, or Chinese- systems, and it is nothing new. For two and a American, meaning to retain some continuity half millennia, Chinese thinkers have been re- with the former term. “There is no room in this flecting on how best to sustain order in the country for hyphenated Americanism,” midst of such dynamism. The concept of har- boomed Roosevelt. “There is no such thing as a mony (he) is at the center of such reflections. hyphenated American who is a good American. Juxtaposing this ancient Chinese ideal with clas- The only man who is a good American is the sical American thinking enables us to appreciate man who is an American and nothing else.” how the ideals that operate in each tradition are This speech was delivered over a century ago, connected—and how such ideals offer an alter- but it sounds like one that could be delivered by native to homogenization as a desirable social an American President today. end. At issue is how American diversity works. America has a tendency to regard homoge- Is “America” one thing or many things? How nization as a social end. Six years prior to deliv- are its parts related to the whole? This piece will ering his “hyphenated Americanism” speech, argue that John Dewey and William James have Roosevelt was in Washington, D.C. for the city resources to address such questions. In what premier of Israel Zangwill’s play, The Melting Pot follows, these resources will be recalled and (1905). The play, which was dedicated to Presi- bolstered alongside the classical Chinese con- dent Roosevelt, portrayed itself as “The Great cept of harmony (he ). American Drama,” an adaptation of Romeo and It might strike readers as odd that Chinese thought should be evoked in a discussion about 1 David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, The Democracy of the American diversity. China is normally regarded Dead: Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China as one of the most homogenous societies on (Chicago: Open Court, 1999), 49.

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Juliet set in contemporary New York City. Da- Ford Motor Company was established in 1914 vid, an immigrant Russian Jew, falls in love with to facilitate their assimilation into American life. Vera, an immigrant Russian Christian. Togeth- Through the “Ford English School,” immi- er, they unite as Americans to overcome the grants learned to speak English and to practice Old World prejudices that challenge their love. “proper” American habits in areas such as food Naturally, they succeed. Watching as the preparation, etiquette, hygiene, and manners. setting sun gilds the (originally) copper flame of Upon graduation from the Ford English the torch on the Statue of Liberty, the protago- School, a ceremony was held in which the stu- nist declares: “It is the Fires of God around his dents would wear costumes reflecting their na- Crucible! There she lays, the great Melting tive lands and, one-by-one, descend into an Pot—Listen! Can’t you hear the roaring and the enormous stage-prop “Melting Pot,” only to bubbling? There gapes her mouth, the harbor emerge in Western suits waving little American where a thousand mammoth feeders come flags. The “Melting Pot” idea thus fit hand-in- from the ends of the world to pour in their hand with industrialization in the United States. human freight.” As David proclaims, “America The Ford Motor Company were not only mass- is God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where producing automobiles, they were mass- all the races of Europe are melting and reform- producing “Americans.” Ford’s demographic ing . . . God is making the American!”2 David proclivities as well as his racial and ethnic pref- and Vera embrace as the curtain falls, and a erences did not go unnoticed on the world burly Teddy Roosevelt could be seen protrud- stage. He would be the only American deemed ing from his loge shouting to the playwright, worthy of praise in Hitler’s Mein Kampf. “That’s a great play, Mr. Zangwill. That’s a John Dewey never liked the “Melting Pot” great play!”3 idea. “The theory of the Melting Pot always Indeed, there is something beautiful and gave me rather a pang,” he remarked.4 It grated moving about Zangwill’s storyline. It reminds against his aesthetic sensibilities. The idea, one that parochial differences between particu- however, had become central in American po- lar cultures can be overcome and deeper loyal- litical discourse and Dewey had to contend with ties realized. Really—what is there not to like? it. Henceforth, the image of America as a “Melt- In the years surrounding the First World ing Pot” would be used to represent to our- War, questions about democracy and ethnicity selves our social ideal. loomed large in the United States, as did con- Not, however, without some disturbing cerns about national loyalty. Dewey was critical- manifestations. The “Melting Pot,” for in- ly engaged in these discussions. Having “lulled stance, became one of Henry Ford’s favorites ourselves to sleep with the word ‘Melting-Pot,’” ideas. Three years after Zangwill’s play premi- he observed, “we have now turned to the word ered, Ford revolutionized American industry ‘hyphenate’ as denoting the last thing in scares with the Ford Model T. Immigrants began with a thrill.” Some were advocating compulso- flocking to Detroit for jobs on the assembly ry military service as a means of forging a lines. The “Sociological Department” of the common national identity among disparate groups in the United States. 2 Israel Zangwill, The Melting Pot: Drama in Four Acts (New York: Macmillan Company, 1932), 33, 184-185. 3 Guy Szuberla, “Zangwill's The Melting Pot Plays Chi- 4 “The Principle of Nationality,” Middle Works of John cago,” Melus 20, no. 3 (1995), 3. Dewey, 10, 289, capitalization added.

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Dewey rejected that idea. “My recognition America’s original seer here is Walt Whitman. of the need of agencies for creating a potent As Americans, we turn to him to reconnect sense of a national ideal and of achieving habits with our national spirit. 1855’s Leaves of Grass is which will make this sense a controlling power a quintessentially “American” document. In- in action is not ungrudging,” Dewey allows. stantly and almost unnervingly intimate, the “But the primary question is what is the nation- poet cuddles up against the reader to recite a al ideal, and to what kind of national service love song to the human race—a stream of un- does it stand related?” To use military training varnished particulars, each human being a po- to foster a national identity among diverse em inside a poem. The teeming diversity of groups would only “reduce them to an anony- Whitman’s New York City is delivered una- mous and drilled homogeneity,” he submits, bridged. “I speak the password primeval . . . I “an amalgam whose uniformity would hardly give the sign of democracy,” he exclaims. “By go deeper than the uniforms of the soldiers.”5 God! I will accept nothing which all cannot The intelligent approach to the problem, have their counterpart of on the same terms.”8 according to Dewey, would be to address to- This is an elusive ideal, however, and even gether the means-and-end of forging a national Whitman wavers.9 American diversity is a puz- identity. As Dewey says, “We must ask what a zle because it evokes the age-old problems of real nationalism, a real Americanism, is like. For “Whole/Part” and “One/Many.” As a poem, unless we know our own character and purpose America embraces the entirety of the human we are not likely to be intelligent in our selec- race: “I am large . . . I contain multitudes.”10 tion of the means to further them.”6 The first question to ask then is what is the distinct charac- 8 Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (Mineola: Dover Publica- ter of America as we find it? tions, 2007), 39. 9 It is not the “legalistic individualism” that While Whitman the poet sang the song of America, Whitman the man had mixed feelings about New York informs our founding documents—for as City’s swelling immigrant populations. Between 1845- Dewey reminds us, “[this] is not indigenous; it 1855, three million foreigners came to American shores. is borrowed from a foreign tradition.” Moreo- Culturally speaking, the American ethos was never exact- ver, as the shortcomings of classical liberalism ly “pro-foreigner”—and Whitman was nothing if not an become increasingly apparent, “many of us are American. Responses to the cultural influx in Whitman’s day ranged from the jingoistic nativism of the “Know- consciously weaned from it.” So again—what is Nothings” to the “outreach” of Tammany Hall, which it that makes the American experience distinct? “We leveraged welfare assistance to new arrivals to bolster its need a new and more political Emerson,” sug- own voter rolls. In Whitman’s prose writings, his nativist gests Dewey, to alert to us to our national char- sympathies come through, and he was not without his acter.7 prejudices. However, “if he was a nativist,” biographer David Reynolds writes, “he was one with a difference.” As a poet, Whitman remained wholly beyond ethnic * * * prejudice: “Pleased with the native and pleased with the foreign . . . pleased with the old, and pleased with the new.” As a person, however, he identified as someone born and raised in the United States. The resulting para- dox is one that lies at the heart of the American experi- 5 “Universal Service as Education,” Middle Works of John ence. See: David S. Reynolds, Walt Whitman’s America: A Dewey, 10, 183-185, 188, italics added. Cultural Biography (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), 98- 6 “Nationalizing Education,” Middle Works of John Dewey, 99, 150-153. 10, 204. 7 “Universal Service as Education,” 188-189. 10 Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 67.

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Among its multitudinous parts, however, each the flavor by adding whatever is deficient has its own character and biases in tension with and reducing whatever is in excess. It is on- its counterparts. Ideally, such an arrangement ly by mixing together ingredients of differ- works. As one Whitman scholar understands it, ent flavors that one is able to create a bal- “the first edition of Leaves of Grass was a utopi- anced, harmonized taste.14 an document,” one in which cultural differences are preserved in the social landscape Flavorful soup is constituted by the ratio of its while also “dissolved by affirmation of the raw ingredients. Its harmony is measured by the cross-fertilization” of its varied parts.11 degree to which it succeeds in incorporating It is here, whereby unity is obtained, in- those ingredients in a good (shan ) way. formed, and enhanced by cross-fertilization, Onion, for instance, is wonderful in soup; that the Chinese ideal of harmony (he) speaks to but one does not therefore add all the onion our current situation and connects with Ameri- that one can find. That would disrupt the can philosophy in important ways. In a recent unique contributions of the other ingredients study of the concept, Chenyang Li argues that and result in disharmony. The most harmoni- “harmony” is a term that is both central to ous soup effectively showcases the unique qual- Chinese philosophy and one that is routinely ity (zhi ) of the onion—it balances its flavor misunderstood by commentators. As Li ex- with other ingredients, thereby tempering its plains, the most prevalent error in both West- otherwise pungent and over-bearing taste. The ern and Chinese scholarship is that harmony is norm of harmony (he) thus entails that there are understood as “presupposing a fixed grand “raw” elements in things that are ideally pre- scheme of things that pre-exists in the world to 12 served and thus expressed in ways that temper which humanity has to conform.” In contrast their excesses and augment their values through to such a misunderstanding, Li argues that the cross-fertilization with other ingredients, thus ideal of harmony in Chinese thought is “deep” rendering a thing’s native qualities communica- in nature; it is “without a pre-set order” and ble and appreciated. thus “opposed to the kind of harmony [e.g. the One does not need to remain in the War- Pythagorean] seen as conforming to a pre- 13 ring States period to find illustrations of how existing structure in the world.” harmony (he) works in a culinary context. One In the early Chinese corpus, the concept is recent example of this ancient norm is the once commonly understood through aesthetic analo- popular (now legendary) Japanese television gies. It is often illustrated through its associa- program, Iron Chef. Here, master chefs are chal- tion with the culinary arts, particularly with lenged to prepare five dishes that showcase a making soup. As the Zuozhuan explains: single “theme” ingredient that is announced Harmony (he) is similar to soup. Soup is only at the time of taping. They have one hour made by adding various kinds of seasoning to bring the uniqueness of this theme ingredi- to water and then cooking fish and meat in ent into harmony with whatever else is at hand, it. One mixes them all together and adjusts and they are judged in three categories: taste, creativity, and presentation.

11 Reynolds, Walt Whitman’s America, 309. 12 Chenyang Li, The Confucian Philosophy of Harmony (New York: Routledge Press, 2014), 1. 14 James Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. 1-5 (Taipei: 13 Li, The Confucian Philosophy of Harmony, 23-34. SMC Publishing Inc., 2000), vol. 5, 684.

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In order to win, chefs must foreground the (zhongxin ) are capable of becoming edu- distinct quality of this ingredient in a variety of cated through ritual-custom (li).”17 15 combinations. Just as Confucius is concerned Just as raw sweetness precedes the dish in with “bringing out what is aesthetically best (mei which it is preserved and surface quality pre- ) in a person,”16 the Iron Chef needs to bring cedes the object that is fashioned upon it, what out what is aesthetically best in an ingredient. is most genuine in a person precedes and be- For Confucius, what is best in a person is comes ingredient in the harmonies that result brought out through social relations; for the from ritual forms—in other words, they contrib- Iron Chef, what is best in an ingredient is ute to the orders that eventually emerge. Facili- brought out thought culinary relations. In each tating such expression is what ritual-customs case, what is unique is rendered communicable are intended to do. As Master You says in the and becomes value-added in a larger harmony. Confucian Analects: “Achieving harmony (he) is Soup and ritual-custom, then, each function to the most important function of ritual-custom enable the expression, register the worth, and (li).”18 temper the idiosyncrasy/excess of their constit- In the Chinese tradition, each harmony uents. Each promotes the healthy expression of emerges directly from the constituents that suc- some rough quality (zhi), giving it outlet and ceed in making it up. Thus, with respect to rendering its palatable in some refined form wholes, it is not governed by any pre- (wen ). determined order or super-ordinate pattern. That such harmonies do not correspond to With respect to parts, it is distinct from Aristo- pre-ordained patterns is suggested in the “Ritu- tle’s concept of “just proportion” among con- al Instruments” (Liqi ) chapter of the Ritu- stituents, which amounts to “equality of ratios” according to strictly mathematical measures in als. Here, we are told that the unique taste of 19 raw sugar and the unique texture of unpainted the Nicomachean Ethics. For Chinese thinkers, surfaces possess their raw qualities (zhi) prior to harmony has to do instead with “equity” becoming ingredient in the aesthetic wholes (gedeqisuo ): “extending to each its that subsequently showcase those qualities. The proper due” given the circumstances that ob- same holds true, we are told, for the person tain and the results that follow. who studies ritual-custom (li ). “What is This is a distinct approach, and Chenyang sweet can be brought into harmony (he), and Li’s work is helpful in distinguishing the ele- what is bare can be brought into vibrant color. mental decisions that go into sustaining such Likewise, persons who are genuine and sincere harmonies in the social realm. As he explains, “harmony presupposes differences.” This does not mean, however, that all differences are to be included. Rather, they fall into three classes: differences that we accept, differences that we 15 The original “Iron Chef” ( Ryōri no Tet- sujin) was launched in 1993 and immediately became a hit in Japan. It stopped production in 1999. It became 17 James Legge, Li Chi: Book of Rites, Vol. 1 and 2 (New popular internationally, distributed via the Food Net- Hyde Park: University Books, 1967), vol. 1, 414. 18 work, and soon inspired other programs of its kind. Analects, 1.12, 74. 19 See: Nicomachean Ethics 1131a.33, Aristotle and Richard 16 Analects, 12.16, Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont McKeon, The Basic Works of Aristotle (New York: Modern Jr., The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation Library, 2001), 1007 and Li, The Confucian Philosophy of (New York: Ballantine Books, 1998), 157. Harmony, 122.

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reject, and differences that we tolerate. Such des- Wanting metaphysical guidance in this area, ignations need to be made with respect to the one naturally turns to William James. James’ dynamic coherence (li ) of the whole. In the pluralism emerges in tension with the “One” optimal scenario, we “embrace difference of the that was popular as the “Absolute” in the mo- first kind,” “cautiously examine and, when war- nistic idealism of his day. James’ key insight, ranted, accept the third kind,” and “strive to which is radical in Western philosophy but ra- eliminate or minimize the second kind.”20 ther unremarkable from an East Asian point of This is what “equity” means as a Chinese view, is that the “Whole/Part” and value—extending to each its “proper due.” The “One/Many” problems that result from monis- Chinese tradition tends to approach such mat- tic idealism are intractable so long as reality is ters differently than they are approached in the regarded in static terms. “Time keeps budding Greek-medieval tradition. In the Chinese tradi- into new moments,” James writes, “every one tion, the stress is on “weighing things up” (quan of which presents a content which in its indi- viduality never was before and will never be ) in particular circumstances, whereas in the 22 latter tradition the stress is on apprehending again.” With this as the starting point, ratios that track onto fixed objects of “wholeness” becomes modal. It becomes a re- knowledge.21 current feature of reality the character of which constantly changes. * * * This is easier to envision in Daoist terms. For the Daoism, dao is constantly giving By its very nature, harmony (he) is frustrated by birth to novelty; the moment one designates the insistence that some single denominator everything here (you ) as a “whole” it has al- characterize the resulting whole. ready changed because something new has ar- rived. Now it is a different whole, and now it is

20 Li, The Confucian Philosophy of Harmony, 143-147. another. Wholeness is thus never static. Given 21 Early on in Plato’s Republic, Socrates asks how one the steady influx of novelty, things change with- gives “justice to things” (dikaiosunê) and who is qualified in relations of “coherence” (li) such that “one- to give each thing its “proper due.” Such moments in the ness” is a dynamic way of being. philosophical corpus mark with unusual clarity the histor- There are numberless ways of being “one.” ical divergence of the Greek and Chinese approaches. Plato’s answer is that it is the expert in the relevant art For James, “Things are ‘with’ one another in (technē) who is best suited to adjudicate “the right” wher- many ways, but nothing includes everything, or ever the principles of that art obtain. Knowing (episteme) dominates over everything. The word ‘and’ such principles and applying them case-by-case is what trails along after every sentence.”23 In such a judiciousness comes to mean. The kind of dao -activity world, “there are innumerable modes of un- prioritized in the Chinese tradition, however, more close- ion,” James notes. There is “neither absolute ly resembles a knack (empeiria) than an art. It is not a form of casuistry commensurate with what we commonly find oneness nor absolute manyness,” but rather “a in the Greek-medieval tradition. Rather, it involves the mixture of well-definable modes of both.” ability to weigh (quan ) situations in a discretionary sense so as to get the optimal result out of them. This 22 “Some Problems of Philosophy,” William James and renders rightness (yi ) a relational rather than a static Bruce Kuklick, William James: Writings, 1902-1910 (New term. See: Republic 332a-e, Plato and John M. Cooper, York: The Library of America, 1987), 1057. 23 Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishers, “A Pluralistic Universe,” William James and Bruce 1997), 976-977. Kuklick, William James: Writings, 1902-1910 (New York: The Library of America, 1987), 776.

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One-and-many are thus bound in togetherness: At the present time there is no dominant “co-ordinate features of the natural world.”24 American mind. Our spirit is inarticulate, These are core ideas in the American philo- not a voice, but a chorus of many voices sophical tradition, and they are highly original each singing a rather different tune. How to in Western thought. In fact, for all practical get order out of this cacophony is the ques- purposes, William James single-handedly invents tion for all those who are concerned about the modern term “pluralism”—which is re- those things which alone justify wealth and markable to consider. Given the illustrious ca- power, concerned about justice, the arts, lit- reer of this term in contemporary discourse, it erature, philosophy, science. What must, is surprising that James’ insights are not more what shall this cacophony become—a often evoked. Perhaps such neglect is due to unison or a harmony? As in an orchestra, the fact that his reflections on pluralism were every type of instrument has its specific primarily confined to metaphysics and episte- timbre and tonality, founded in its sub- mology. James never got around to applying the stance and form; as every type has its ap- notion to issues in the social and political realm. propriate theme and melody in the whole He had students, however, who did. symphony, so in a society each ethnic group Horace Kallen, in his 1915 article in The is the natural instrument, its spirit and cul- Nation, “Democracy vs. the Melting Pot: A ture are its theme and melody, and the Study of American Nationality,” formulates a harmony and dissonances and discords of truly American, pluralistic alternative to the er- them all make civilization . . . within the satz “Melting Pot” ideal. One century later, his limits set by nature they may vary at will, argument still holds up remarkably well. Kallen and the range and the variety of the harmo- begins by providing a broad overview of Amer- nies may become wider and richer and ican immigration: the economic forces that more beautiful. But the question is, do the drive it, the stratification that it introduces, and dominant classes in America want such a how “Americanization” as the adaptation of society?25 Anglo-Saxon attitudes by other ethnic groups factors into it. His conclusion is that “Ameri- Dewey read Kallen’s article with great inter- canization,” understood as the widespread est and immediately wrote to him hoping to adoption of Anglo-Saxon attitudes, is never go- arrange a time to meet to discuss its thesis. In a ing to happen—the situation is simply too rare personal aside, Dewey shares with Kallen complex and variable. reflections on his own ethnic heritage in rela Thus, as it stands, suggests Kallen, “Ameri- tion to the national debate: ca” has yet to occur. “America is a word: as a historic fact, a democratic ideal of life, it is not To put it personally: My forbears on both realized at all.” The practical question then, sides are Americans for over two hundred Kallen asks, is what kind of society does the fifty years: they were I suppose partly Eng- dominant classes in the United States really lish and partly Flemish in the beginning. I want? He writes: have some sentimental interest in the Flem- ish part, next to none in the English. And I

25 Horace Kallen, “Democracy Versus the Melting Pot,” The Nation 100, 2590, Feb. 18, 25 (1915), 194, 217. 24 “Some Problems in Philosophy,” 1046-1047.

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cannot remember the time when I had any plains. “It remains to [be seen],” Dewey writes, interest in the Anglo-Saxon talk. I want to “whether we have the courage to face this fact see this country American and that means and the wisdom to think out the plan of action the English tradition reduced to a strain which it indicates.”29 along with others. It is convenient for These are profound statements. In order to “Americans” to put the blame of things fully appreciate them, one must overcome pre- they don’t like on the “foreigners,” but I vailing Eurocentric conceptions of the Ameri- don’t believe that goes very deep; it is most- can experience and assume a broader view. ly irritation at some things they don’t like Human history in North America began with and an unwillingness to go below the sur- Eurasian migrations 30,000 years ago, resulting face. I quite agree with your orchestra idea, in the evolution of a patchwork of cultural but upon condition we really get a sympho- groups with diverse languages and customs. ny and not a lot of different instruments The arrival of Europeans is often treated as the playing simultaneously. I never did care for “beginning” of the American experience—such the Melting Pot metaphor, but genuine that we imagine that the American character assimilation to one another—not to Anglo- was forged in a mythical, stark encounter be- Saxondom—seems to be essential to an tween “humans” (i.e. Europeans) and an un- America. That each cultural section should tamed “wilderness.” maintain its distinctive literary and artistic This narrative is entirely false. North Amer- traditions seems to me most desirable, but ica possessed a rich cultural history prior to the in order that it might have the more to con- arrival of Europeans, and the latter’s experience tribute to others.26 was shaped through its encounter with the former. While Native American cultures were “Genuine assimilation to one another”—this is nearly annihilated by European-borne diseases the touchstone for Dewey’s vision of a plural- (populations declined by as much as 90% be- istic, multi-ethnic, culturally diverse America. tween 1492 and 1650), there was a sophisticated “To maintain that all the constituent elements, cultural matrix in place along the eastern sea- geographical, racial, cultural, in the United board when the Europeans landed. They were States should be put in the same pot and turned greeted by existing territorial claims, trade net- into a uniform and unchanging product,” Dew- works, multiple languages, material technolo- ey writes, “is distasteful.” We must rather “re- gies, tribal identities, arts and customs, animosi- spect those elements of diversification in cul- ties and alliances, and so on. The “New World” tural traits which differentiate our national was hardly a blank slate. As Scott L. Pratt ar- life.”27 gues, the “problem of origins” in American The true nature of the American character philosophy has yet to fully recognize the con- now comes into view—“the peculiarity of our text in which the American mind actually took nationalism,” Dewey writes, “is its internation- shape. alism.”28 “In our internal constitution we are American thinkers, most famously Ralph actually interracial and international,” he ex- Waldo Emerson in his “American Scholar,” sought to distinguish themselves from Europe- 26 Correspondence of John Dewey (03222), John Dewey to Horace M. Kallen, March 31, 1915. 27 “The Principle of Nationality,” 10:289. 29 “German Philosophy and Politics,” Middle Works of 28 “Nationalizing Education,” 206. John Dewey, 8, 03.

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an thinkers and to express something uniquely values native to the continent. “Welcoming “American.” But what was this thing? Strangers” is the original American ideal. Pratt traces this indigenous “something” back to Roger Williams (1603-1683), our most * * * famous exponent of religious liberty and de- fender of Native American land claims against Dewey understood, as well as anyone, that the British colonial charters. Williams learned to most important agency for sustaining and communicate with Native Americans and pub- transmitting such a welcoming character is a lished a phrasebook, A Key Into the Language of robust public education system—one that America in 1643. He established relationships of transmits America’s immigrant heritage and its trust and respect with indigenous peoples, es- significance. Such liberal education is the first pecially with the Narragansett tribe. Against the line of defense against those who would be en- colonial attitude of those like Cotton Mather, emies to America. for whom Native Americans were future Chris- Dewey refers to such agents as “the enemy tians at best, Williams’ intra-cultural experience within.” These are “the misleaders who attempt involved assimilating the Narragansett custom to create disunity and hatred among Ameri- of wunnégin (“Welcoming Strangers”) into his cans,” those who “preach hatred and discrimi- own Christian outlook, resulting in a concept of nation against Americans who happen to be acceptance, friendliness, and civility unique to darker skinned, speak with an accent, or share a the American character. minority faith.” Such enemies “work untiringly Accordingly, as Pratt demonstrates, “Wil- to exaggerate racial and religious differences” liams’s ideal of a plural community stands in and thus “do not grasp the uniqueness of strong contrast to Locke’s notion of toleration America.”31 As Dewey warns, “Skillful politi- on a number of points.” Ideals that would cians and other self-seekers have always known eventually become the “common core of classi- how to play cleverly upon patriotism, and upon cal pragmatism,” which Pratt identifies as “in- ignorance of other peoples, to identify national- teraction, pluralism, community, and growth,” ism with latent hatred of other nations.”32 resonate more strongly with the Native Ameri- Liberal education ideally liberates the student can concept of wunnégin than with anything in from the limitation of the group biases into classical European liberalism.30 which she is born and prepares her for the While this ideal becomes diffuse in its influ- “broader environment” of America and the ence and fails historically to prevent the emer- world. By necessity, in order to ensure continui- gence of the “colonial attitude” and the en- ty and core learning standards, subject matter in shrinement of classical liberalism in the United public education must remain relatively uni- States Constitution, its spirit ought still to be form. “The intermingling in the school of recognized as the indigenous spirit of America. youth of different races, differing religions, and Anyone who identifies as “American,” in any unlike customs,” however, “creates for all a case, should understand this heritage and the new and broader environment. Common subject matter accustoms all to a unity of outlook

30 Scott Pratt, Native Pragmatism: Rethinking the Roots of 31 Correspondence of John Dewey (15121), John Dewey to American Philosophy (Bloomington: Indiana University Catherine B. Wurster on behalf of the “Common Coun- Press, 2002), 19-20, 103-106, 124. cil for American Unity,” April 4, 1949. 32 “Nationalizing Education,” 202.

upon a broader horizon than is visible to the I find that many who talk the loudest members of any group while it is isolated.”33 about the need of a supreme and unified Given recent events in American politics, it Americanism of spirit really mean some is worth hearing from Dewey at length about special code or tradition to which they hap- the role that public education plays in relation pen to be attached. They have some pet to “American nationalism.” Hardly a more co- tradition which they would impose upon all. gent and relevant statement could be desired: In thus measuring the scope of American- ism by some single element which enters in- I want to mention only two elements in the to it they are themselves false to the spirit nationalism which our education should of America. Neither Englandism nor New- cultivate. The first is that the American Englandism, neither Puritan nor Cavalier nation is itself complex and compound. any more than Teuton or Slav, can do any- Strictly speaking it is interracial and interna- thing but furnish one note in a vast sym- tional in its make-up. It is composed of a phony. multitude of peoples speaking different The way to deal with hyphenism, in tongues, inheriting diverse traditions, cher- other words, is to welcome it, but to wel- ishing varying ideals of life. This fact is come it in the sense of extracting from each basic to our nationalism as distinct from that people its special good, so that it shall sur- of other peoples. Our national motto, “One render into a common fund of wisdom and from Many,” cuts deep and extends far. It experience what it especially has to contrib- denotes a fact which doubtless adds to the ute. All of these surrenders and contribu- difficulty of getting a genuine unity. But it tions taken together create the national spir- also immensely enriches the possibilities of it of America. The dangerous thing is for the result to be attained. No matter how each factor to isolate itself, to try to live off loudly any one proclaims his Americanism, its past, and then to attempt to impose itself if he assumes that any one racial strain, any upon other elements, or, at least, to keep it- one component culture, no matter how ear- self intact and thus refuse to accept what ly settled it was in our territory, or how ef- other cultures have to offer, so as thereby fective it has proved in its own land, is to to be transmuted into authentic American- furnish a pattern to which all other strains ism. and cultures are to conform, he is a traitor In what is rightly objected to as hyphen- to an American nationalism. Our unity can- ism the hyphen has become something not be a homogeneous thing like that of which separates one people from other the separate states of Europe from peoples—and thereby prevents American which our population is drawn; it must be a nationalism. Such terms as Irish-American unity created by drawing out and compos- or Hebrew-American or German-American ing into a harmonious whole the best, the are false terms because they seem to assume most characteristic which each contrib- something which is already in existence uting race and people has to offer. called America to which the other factor may be externally hitched on. The fact is the genuine American, the typical Ameri- can, is himself a hyphenated character. This 33 Democracy and Education, Middle Works of John Dewey, 9, 26. does not mean that he is part American,

and that some foreign ingredient is then Hook replies. “You can announce it from the added. It means that, as I have said, he is in- housetops on my authority.”35 ternational and interracial in his make-up. He is not American plus Pole or German. * * * But the American is himself Pole-German- English-French-Spanish-Italian-Greek- As Dewey observes, America’s (now un- Irish-Scandinavian-Bohemian-Jew-and so official) national motto, “From the Many, One” on. The point is to see to it that the hyphen (E Pluribus Unum),36 “cuts deep and extends connects instead of separates. And this far.” means at least that our public schools shall The notion that the “one” emerges from teach each factor to respect every other, the “many” without usurping the integrity of and shall take pains to enlighten all as to the “each” is difficult to conceptualize without the great past contributions of every strain in kind of process-driven and aesthetic-oriented our composite make-up. I wish our teach- assumptions that early Chinese thinkers exhibit. ing of American history in the schools In this respect, the Chinese notion of harmony would take more account of the great waves (he) provides a conceptual tool that helps us to of migration by which our land for over conceptualize the dynamic interplay between three centuries has been continuously built unity and diversity. It illustrates how in natural up, and make every pupil conscious of the systems each constituent ingredient can con- rich breadth of our national make-up. tribute to a novel order the worth of which is When every pupil recognizes all the factors greater than the sum of its parts. which have gone into our being, he will E Pluribus Unum is a similar ideal. Emerging continue to prize and reverence that com- alongside process-oriented thinking in the ing from his own past, but he will think of West, the phrase traces back to the Latin trans- it as honored in being simply one factor lation of Heraclitus’ “Tenth Fragment,” which in forming a whole, nobler and finer than reads: “Out of many there comes one, and out itself.34 of one, many.”37Its more direct classical source, however, is Virgil. The poet uses the phrase in Such a statement leaves no question about his “Moretum,” a poem in honor of the herb- where Dewey stands on questions of “Ameri- cheese salad favored by the Romans. Moretum can nationalism.” Over the years, some have misunderstood his approach to public educa- 35 Correspondence of John Deweyc(21234), Sidney Hook to J. tion as endorsing “Americanization” in a more Christopher Eisele, May 15, 1974. 36 th uniform sense. Sidney Hook was once asked In 1956, the 84 Congress of the United States adopt- ed “In God We Trust” as the official U.S. motto, in vio- about this, and he effectively put such readings lation (one would assume) of the Establishment Clause to rest. The “whole spirit of Dewey’s theory of of the First Amendment. Its constitutionality was first democracy and education requires a commit- challenged in Aronow vs. United States in 1970, but the ment to the philosophy of cultural pluralism,” motto was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Given this precedent, subsequent challenges have not gone very far. E Pluribus Unum remains our “un- official” motto. 37 “Tenth Fragment,” Reginald E. Allen, Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle, Third Edition (New York: The Free Press, 1966), 41. 34 “Nationalizing Education,” 204-206.

brings together the “many” (garlic, parsley, rue, product. “The institutions of the Republic,” he onions, cheese, salt, coriander, vinegar, and oil) writes, “have become the liberating cause and and mixes them into “one”—E Pluribus Unum. the background for the rise of the cultural con- Thus, “Round all the mortar doth he go at last and sciousness and social autonomy” of cultural into one coherent ball doth bring, the different portions, groups. “On the whole,” he argues, “American- that it may name and likeness of a finished salad fit.”38 ization has not repressed nationality. American- The culinary association behind our motto ization has liberated nationality.”41 calls to mind the soup analogy that informs The truth of this remains an empirical ques- harmony (he) in the Chinese tradition. This cul- tion. Surely there is a vast difference between inary ideal, again, is that the raw qualities (zhi) first and third generation Americans, with the of various ingredients are showcased in the fin- dilution of cultural difference plain to see. ished whole, just as music brings together dif- Americanization thus requires, as Dewey says, a ferent instruments in a symphonic harmony. robust public commitment to its own multicul- When this is done well (shan), the process of tural heritage. The social, economic, and indus- bringing things together forms a coherence (li) trial forces that drive homogenization in Amer- in which each constituent is appreciated. For ica are not uniquely “American” forces—or so Confucians, family is ideally such an order. It I would submit. Global capitalism threatens facilitates the meaningful inclusion of its mem- local cultures everywhere, including in the United bers and gives expression to their unique roles States. in the process.39The concept of “nation as a The best hope for America, I believe, is to family” (guojia ) is founded on such an ide- reconnect with its own national spirit. To real—even to the extent that the distinction be- gard E Pluribus Unum as a process of homoge- tween the “nation” and the “family” often be- nization violates America’s history as well as its comes unclear in the Confucian tradition, as deepest philosophical heritage. Harmony (he) Sor-hoon Tan demonstrates.40 serves as an important corrective to such mis- With respect to American nationhood, the perceptions—an ancient Chinese ideal that, odd challenge is to forge a truly multiethnic, interna- as it may sound, has the potential to remind tional “family” within its borders. This involves America of what it means to achieve a more calling forth and preserving differences. Horace perfect union. Kallen sees the American nation not as a “Melt- ing Pot” but as a “Cooking Pot” in which the Jim Behuniak is Associate Professor and Chair of the mixing actually draws out different strains of Philosophy department at Colby College. He received human culture for inclusion in the finished his Ph.D. from the University of Hawai`i in 2002. His work focuses in the areas of classical Chinese philosophy and American philosophy. He is the author of 38 “Moretum,” Virgil and John Augustine Wilstach, The two forthcoming books: John Dewey and Daoist Works of Virgil, vol. 1, translated by John Augustine Thought: Experiments in Intra-Cultural Philos- Wilstach (New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1884), 123. ophy, Vol. 1 and John Dewey and Confucian 39 The objection that “dysfunctional families” exist only Thought: Experiments in Intra-Cultural Philos- begs the question. Families become dysfunctional pre- cisely when they fail to realize the normative measure of 41 Horace Kallen, “Democracy Versus the Melting Pot,” harmony (he ). 219. 40 Sor-hoon Tan, Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Recon- struction (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003), 60.

ophy, Vol. 2 (SUNY Press, 2019). He is also the author of Mencius on Becoming Human (SUNY Press, 2005). He is editor of Appreciating the Chinese Difference: Engaging Roger T. Ames on Methods, Issues, and Roles (SUNY Press, 2018) and co-editor with Roger T. Ames of Studies of Mencius on Feel- ings and Nature (Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing, 2004).