Syllabus
| University of Utah |
Pragmatism
and the Philosophy of John Dewey |
Fall 1999 |
| Office: 118B M.B.H. |
Audrey Thompson |
Mailbox in 307 MBH |
| Office Hours: |
Ed. St. 6621 |
Phone: 581-7158 |
Tu 2:30-4:00 & We 2:30-4:00
and by appt. |
Meets W 4:30-7:30
BU C 211 |
e-mail: |
PURPOSE OF COURSE
The purpose of this course is to examine the work
of John Dewey in light of several North American traditions in pragmatism:
the “classical” Anglo-American pragmatism associated with Charles S. Peirce,
William James, and George Herbert Mead (as well as Dewey), along with the
feminist pragmatism associated with Jane Addams, Dorothy Smith, and others,
and the African-American tradition in pragmatism associated with W. E.
B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, Carter G. Woodson, and others. Each of these forms
of pragmatism offers distinctive accounts of the relation between knowledge
and social change; the course will be concerned with the epistemological
claims and the educational implications that emerge from the different
forms of pragmatism. Among the questions that the course will ask are how
“experience,” “knowledge,” “nature,” and “democracy” are interpreted in
each of these pragmatist traditions.
A leading American philosopher and educational
theorist, John Dewey has had an enormous impact on mainstream educational
discourse — and is of increasing interest to postmodern feminist research.
This course seeks to locate Dewey’s educational philosophy within a coherent
political, cultural, and intellectual tradition in order to examine the
conservative, liberal, and radical assumptions and implications of Dewey’s
arguments.
In examining Dewey’s views on such issues as
individualism and self-expression, democracy, local control, the role of
experts, the nature of knowledge, the purpose of schools as democratic
institutions, and the more broadly conceived purposes of education, we
will also be considering the ways in which Dewey’s arguments speak to the
interests of some groups to the exclusion of others — and whether his
arguments can be reframed in more inclusive terms. In order to represent
those arguments as fully as possible, the course considers Dewey’s work
not only in his specifically educational writing but also in his discussions
of political theory, scientific and intellectual understanding, aesthetic
appreciation, and, to a certain extent, moral knowledge and conduct.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
There are six required texts for the course; occasional
short articles will be assigned as well. Written requirements will include
two in-class tests, each focusing on central concepts in Dewey’s work;
a journal/notebook/log that, in keeping with the experimental and experiential
emphasis in Dewey’s philosophy, uses the individual and collective experience
of teachers/students to interrogate particular arguments in Dewey’s work
but in turn uses Dewey’s arguments as leverage on that experience; and
a final paper (approximately 10 pages) analyzing a particular set of concepts
in Dewey’s work with reference to some of the other readings on pragmatism
used in the course. The paper should draw on at least three of the books
used in the course, along with any other applicable readings.
The two tests have a largely expository purpose,
which is to synthesize Dewey’s position on particular points. Each of the
tests consists of 4 or 5 terms (or pairs of terms) to be discussed in light
of their significance for Deweyan pragmatism. The class as a whole will
generate a pool of test items, from which I will select a more limited
number of items (a typical term to be defined might be “the public”). In
contrast with the tests, both class discussion and the journal are expected
to take a more exploratory approach, critiquing and assessing as well as
elucidating Dewey’s arguments in terms of their assumptions concerning
race, class, gender, and ethnicity, for example, and in terms of their
implications for teachers, students, and schooling as an institution. The
final paper should be both expository and critical, though this does not
preclude its being emergent and exploratory.
In sum the course requirements include two short
tests, a journal, and a final paper, in addition to regular attendance,
participation in class discussion, and careful reading of the assigned
texts.
GRADING
The course has two main purposes — clarifying and
synthesizing Dewey’s arguments, on the one hand, and interrogating and
assessing them, on the other. The in-class tests will focus on exposition
while the journals and final paper will also involve critical analysis.
-
Expository analyses:
-
First test: 20%
Second test: 25%-
Critical/exploratory analyses:
- Journal and class participation/discussion: 25%
Final paper: 30%
REQUIRED TEXTS:
-
John Dewey,
-
The Public and Its Problems
-
John Dewey,
-
Democracy and Education
-
John Dewey,
-
The Quest for Certainty
-
John Dewey,
-
Art as Experience
-
Charlene Haddock Seigfried,
-
Pragmatism and Feminism: Reweaving the Social
Fabric
-
Carter G. Woodson,
-
The Mis-Education of the Negro
The above texts are available at the University
Bookstore and on reserve at the University Library. Occasional articles
will also be assigned. They will be put on reserve at the University Library.
SCHEDULE
-
Wednesday 25 August:
-
Introduction: Progressivism, Pragmatism, and
Pragmaticism
-
Reading:
-
Peirce, “How to Make Our Ideas Clear”
-
James, “What Pragmatism Means”
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Wednesday 1 September:
-
Liberalism and Individualism in the “New Age
of Human Relationships”
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Public and Its Problems, Ch. 1, 2,
3
-
Wednesday 8 September:
-
Democracy and Community: Creating Commonality
amid Social Instability
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Public and Its Problems, Ch. 4, 5,
6
Journals due
-
Wednesday 15 September:
-
Education as Growth
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Democracy and Education, Ch. 1-9
-
Wednesday 22 September:
-
Experience and Education
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Reading:
-
Dewey, Democracy and Education, Ch. 10-18
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Wednesday 29 September:
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Education and Value
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Reading:
-
Dewey, Democracy and Education, Ch. 19-26
-
Test: Concepts in Democracy and Education
and The Public and Its Problems
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Wednesday 6 October:
-
Naturalistic Philosophy: The Relation between
Knowledge and Action
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Quest for Certainty, Ch. 1, 2, 3,
4
-
Wednesday 13 October:
-
Inquiry as Problem-Solving: Interestedness
vs. Disinterestedness
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Quest for Certainty, Ch. 6, 7, 9
-
Keller, “A World of Difference”
-
Wednesday 20 October:
-
Organic Experience and the Construction of
Meaning
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Art as Experience, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4
-
Wednesday 27 October:
-
The Working of Art: Objectivism, Subjectivism,
and Transactionalism
Class does not meet. Please complete the
following reading.
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Art as Experience, Ch. 5, 6, 8, 10
-
Wednesday 3 November:
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Aesthetic Transformation
-
Reading:
-
Dewey, Art as Experience, Ch. 12, 14
-
Test on Concepts in Art as Experience
and The Quest for Certainty
-
Wednesday 10 November:
-
Knowledge and Standpoint
-
Reading:
-
Woodson, Mis-Education of the Negro, pp.
1 - 95
-
Locke, “The New Negro”
-
Wednesday 17 November:
-
Democratic Education in a Racist Society
-
Reading:
-
Woodson, Mis-Education of the Negro, pp.
96 - 197
-
Du Bois, “Does the Negro Need Separate Schools?”
-
Journals due
-
Wednesday 24 November:
-
NO CLASS: Semester Break
-
Wednesday 1 December:
-
Where Are the Women?
-
Reading:
-
Seigfried, Pragmatism and Feminism, Ch. 1,
2, 3
-
Journals due
-
Wednesday 8 December:
-
Inclusion and Omission
-
Reading:
-
Seigfried, Pragmatism and Feminism, Ch. 4,
5, 6
-
Wednesday 15 December:
-
Final paper due
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