DEWEY STUDIES Volume 1 · Number 1 · Spring 2017
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DEWEY STUDIES Volume 1 · Number 1 · Spring 2017 ISSN: 2572-4649 Mission: Dewey Studies is a peer-reviewed, online, open-access journal of the John Dewey Society, dedicated to furthering understanding of John Dewey’s philosophical work and enlivening his unique mode of engagement with the vital philosophical questions of our time. Please visit our website for more information about the journal, or to view other issues of Dewey Studies. Editors: Editor-in-Chief Leonard Waks, [email protected] Associate Editors Paul Cherlin, [email protected] James Scott Johnston, [email protected] Jared Kemling, [email protected] Zane Wubbena, [email protected] Reviews Editor Daniel Brunson, [email protected] Submissions: To submit a manuscript for publication, please send an email to: Jared Kemling, Associate Editor [email protected] To submit a book review or inquire as to what books are available for review, please email: Daniel Brunson, Reviews Editor [email protected] Title flourishes designed by Vexels.com and used with permission EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Thomas Alexander (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) Douglas Anderson (University of North Texas) Randall Auxier (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) Thomas Burke (University of South Carolina) Vincent Colapietro (Pennsylvania State University) Steven Fesmire (Green Mountain College) Michael Festl (University of St. Gallen) Marilyn Fischer (University of Dayton) Roberto Frega (Marcel Mauss Institute at the CNRS) Jim Garrison (Virginia Tech & Uppsala University) James Good (Lone Star College North Harris) Larry Hickman (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) David Hildebrand (University of Colorado Denver) Alexander Kremer (University of Szeged) John J. McDermott (Texas A&M) Erin McKenna (University of Oregon) William Myers (Birmingham-Southern College) Stefan Neubert (University of Cologne) Gregory Pappas (Texas A&M) Scott Pratt (University of Oregon) Charlene Haddock Seigfried (Purdue University) John Shook (State University of New York at Buffalo) Giuseppe Spadafora (University of Calabria) Kenneth Stikkers (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) Shannon Sullivan (University of North Carolina Charlotte) Dwayne Tunstall (Grand Valley State University) Claudio Viale (National University of Cordoba) Emil Višňovský (Comenius University) Jennifer Welchman (University of Alberta) Krystyna Wilkoszewska (Jagiellonian University) Chen Yajun (Fudan University) DEWEY STUDIES VOLUME 1 · NUMBER 1 · SPRING 2017 ARTICLES EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION TO DEWEY STUDIES 1 Leonard J. Waks INTRODUCTION TO DEWEY STUDIES 5 Jim Garrison THE NATURE PHILOSOPHY OF JOHN DEWEY 13 John R. Shook JOHN DEWEY AND ALBERT C. BARNES: A DEEP AND MUTUALLY REWARDING FRIENDSHIP 44 George E. Hein THE “DEWEY-LIPPMANN” DEBATE AND THE ROLE OF DEMOCRATIC COMMUNICATION IN THE TRUMP AGE 79 Lance E. Mason THE MIND IS NOT THE BRAIN: JOHN DEWEY, NEUROSCIENCE, AND AVOIDING THE MEREOLOGICAL FALLACY 111 Deron Boyles & Jim Garrison AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY A. HICKMAN 131 Larry A. Hickman EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION TO DEWEY STUDIES LEONARD J. WAKS Temple University, Emeritus Volume 1 · Number 1 · Spring 2017 · Pages 1-4 Leonard J. Waks 2 elcome to Dewey Studies, a new online journal of the John Dewey Society. Dewey Studies is the first scholarly W journal devoted to John Dewey’s life, work, and legacy. The William James Society publishes James Studies and the Charles S. Peirce Society publishes Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society; much of the most important work on John Dewey has been published in the latter journal. Because of the importance of Dewey’s contribution to topics in metaphysics, logic, ethics, political theory, and education, and because of a growing interest in Dewey’s distinct contributions to philosophical thought, Dewey’s corpus deserves a dedicated journal. Dewey Studies provides it. The John Dewey Society has three interlocking aims: (i) critical inquiry into pressing educational and cultural issues, (ii) educational theory and research of a progressive nature, and (iii) studies of the Dewey corpus and its influence. Throughout the course of our society’s history, more emphasis has been placed on the first two. The reasons for this can be made clear given the origins of our society. Founded in 1935, The Dewey Society was the first organization dedicated to an American philosopher. It was not, however, intended as a vehicle to advance the ideas of Dewey. Like the Thoreau Society (founded in 1941), the Dewey Society was founded to advance a cause, not a system of ideas. The Thoreau Society aimed to advance the idea of wilderness and to preserve wild spaces. Thoreau was a model, not a ‘great figure’ on a pedestal. The Dewey Society’s stated mission is “keeping alive John Dewey's commitment to the use of critical and reflective intelligence in the search for solutions to crucial problems in education and culture.” The founders were responding to right-wing attacks against progressive developments in American life. They saw Dewey as a model in progressive social thought and action, not primarily as a model for professional philosophy. Because many of the problems addressed by the Society’s founders involved attacks against public education, and because the Society subsequently held its meetings in conjunction with professional societies devoted to education, a second unstated Dewey Studies Vol 1 · No 1 · Spring 2017 Leonard J. Waks 3 mission, encouraging educational research studies with a progressive slant, emerged. For the last several decades the Society has held its meetings in conjunction with the American Educational Research Association. Until 2011, the Society sponsored a Special Interest Group in Dewey Studies at AERA. That group in turn sponsored an annual Dewey Lecture and Dewey Symposium as well as panels of peer-reviewed conference papers. The Society no longer controls that Interest Group, because new AERA rules prohibit control of its internal groups by an outside organization. But the Dewey Society remains an affiliate member of AERA and cooperates informally with the AERA Dewey Studies Group. These activities strongly reinforce the Society’s mission in the fields of educational theory and research. The Society has published the journal Education and Culture, now in its thirty-second volume, as a home for research and scholarship on Dewey’s educational works and activities. It also publishes an online journal, The Journal of School and Society, to address pressing issues in educational policy. Dewey's corpus, however, extends far beyond educational theory and policy. Many of his most important works, including Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, Ethics, Experience and Nature, The Public and its Problems, and Art as Experience, address other topics. The John Dewey Society has organized many lectures and panels on these works, but until now has had no vehicle for publishing scholarship on such works and the issues radiating from them beyond the field of education. These issues have been taken up not only by philosophers but also by political theorists, psychologists, and scholars in many other disciplines. The Dewey Studies journal aims to fill that need. To avoid competition with the Society’s other journals Dewey Studies will generally not publish articles narrowly focused on education. We are undergoing a ‘renaissance’ in Dewey scholarship. The Dewey Society, the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, and other societies and scholars are now organizing symposia and conferences on topics associated with John Dewey. Dewey Studies seeks to publish the best current work on Dewey, including work arising from such meetings, and to review new Dewey Studies Vol 1 · No 1 · Spring 2017 Leonard J. Waks 4 books on Dewey. We aim to become the preeminent journal globally for Dewey Studies. Please submit manuscripts and query the editors about ideas for publishing special issues or conference panels. Dewey Studies Vol 1 · No 1 · Spring 2017 INTRODUCTION TO DEWEY STUDIES JIM GARRISON Virginia Tech & Uppsala University Volume 1 · Number 1 · Spring 2017 · Pages 5-12 Jim Garrison 6 ponsored by the John Dewey Society, Dewey Studies represents the first journal ever dedicated exclusively to scholarship on S the philosophy of John Dewey.1 Because there has been so much work on Dewey’s philosophy of education, Dewey Studies will deliberately extend to all aspects of Dewey's work outside of his philosophy of education narrowly considered. The founding of Dewey Studies is an important moment in the history of both the Society and Deweyan scholarship. The visitor to the John Dewey Society homepage is provided the following brief history: The John Dewey Society grew out of a series of discussions held in 1934 and 1935. Originally called “The Association for the Study of Education in its Social Aspects,” the name was changed to the John Dewey Society in early 1936. The John Dewey Society exists to keep alive John Dewey's commitment to the use of critical and reflective intelligence in the search for solutions to crucial problems in education and culture.2 The Society was founded on Dewey’s spirit not as a venue of Dewey studies. The interested browser can click on “history” under “About 1 In authoring this article, I contacted the following former John Dewey Society past-presidents listed in the order in which they served: David Hansen, Larry Hickman, Lynda Stone, Deron Boyles, and Kathleen Knight-Abowitz to solicit insight into the founding of the journal. I also contacted president-elect A. G. Rud. The current president, Leonard J. Waks was not contacted because he is the inaugural editor-in-chief. All of them endorsed the idea of Dewey Studies. As one of them put it, “Hmmmm, where has a journal like this been all this time?” They also offered useful ideas for the composition of my Introduction. I borrowed from every one of them. Their influence is scattered throughout the work without citation. I want to thank them for their help. Errors that remain are all my own. 2 Retrieved from http://www.johndeweysociety.org/board-of-directors-and-officers/history/, at 10:58 a.m., January 5, 2017.