PHIL 577C – Spring 2023

Class Meeting Time

Mondays 3:00-5:30pm

Location

Morris Library | Room 0044 (Center for Dewey Studies)

Office Hours

Tues/Wednesday 3-5pm
Morris Library | Room 0044 (Center for Dewey Studies)

Contact Info

Email me at matt.brown@siu.edu. I do not currently have regular access to an office phone.

Course Description & Learning Objectives

More info…

Required Texts

Abbreviations in (parentheses) are used to give page numbers for readings in the course schedule below.

• The Essential Dewey, volume 1 & volume 2, ed. Hickman & Alexander (ED1 & ED2)
• The Collected Works of John Dewey, 1882-1953 via InteLex Past Masters (EW, MW, or LW vol#)

Recommended Texts

More info…

Course Schedule

Course Schedule

1. Dewey on His Historical and Cultural Context (1/23)
   • Read: “The Development of American Pragmatism” (1925) (ED1: 3-13), “From Absolutism to Experimentalism” (1930) (ED1: 14-21); Recommended: “Pragmatic America” (ED1: 29-32), “The Pragmatic Acquiescence” (1927) (ED1: 33-36), various Introductions to ED and recommended texts.
2. Starting with Experience / Practice (1/30)
   • “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” (1894) (ED2: 3-10), “The Postulate of Immediate Empricism” (1905) (ED1: 115-20), Douglas Browning, “Dewey and Ortega on the Starting Point”; Recommended: “What Pragmatism Means by Practical” (1908) (ED2: 377-86)
3. Dewey’s Naturalistic Orientation (2/6)
   • Read: “The Influence of Darwinism on Philosophy” (1909) (ED1: 39-45), “Nature in Experience” (1940) (ED1: 154-61), “Anti-Naturalism in Extremis” (1943) (ED1: 162-171); Recommended: Kitcher, “Deweyan Naturalism” (2018), Hickman, “Nature as Culture: John Dewey’s Pragmatic Naturalism” (1996)
4. Philosophy as Reconstruction and Criticism (2/13)
   • Read: “The Need for a Recovery of Philosophy” (1917) (ED1: 46-70), “Existence, Value, and Criticism” (1925) (ED1: 84-101); Recommended: Dwyer, “Dewey’s Conception of Philosophy” (1991); West, “The Coming-of-Age of American Pragmatism: John Dewey” (1989); Kitcher, “The Importance of Dewey for Philosophy” (2012)
5. Dewey’s Method: The Pattern of Inquiry (2/20)
   • Read: “Analysis of Reflective Thinking” (1933) (ED2: 137-144), “The Place of Judgment in Reflective Activity” (1933) (ED2: 145-50), “The Pattern of Inquiry” (1938) (ED2: 169-79), “The Construction of Judgment” (1938) (ED2 194-96); Recommended: Hickman, “Dewey’s Theory of Inquiry” (RD: Ch 9), Brown, “John Dewey’s Logic of Science” (2012)
6. The John Dewey Special Collections and Archival Research (2/27)
   • Special Guest: Nicholas Guardiano
7. Dewey’s Method: Denotative Method (3/6)
   • Read: “The Subject Matter of Metaphysical Inquiry” (1915) (ED1: 175-80), “Experience and Philosophic Method” (1929) (LW 1:10-41); Recommended: 1st Edition version of “Experience and Philosophic Method” (1925) (LW 1:365-92), Alexander, “Dewey’s Denotative-Empirical Method: A Thread Through the Labyrinth” (2004), Leonov, “Dewey’s Denotative Method: A Critical Approach” (2022)
   • Assignment Due: Term Paper Prospectus
8. Spring Break (3/13)
9. Dewey on Art (3/20)
   • Read: Chs 1-3 of Art as Experience (1934): “The Live Creature” (LW 10: 9-25), “The Live Creature and ‘Ethereal Things'” (LW 10: 26-41), “Having an Experience” (LW 10: 42-63); Recommended primary: “Experience, Nature, and Art” from Experience and Nature (1925) (LW 1: 266-94), “The Act of Expression” from Art as Experience (1934) (LW 10: 64-87), “Aesthetic Feeling” from Psychology (1887) (EW 2: 267-80), “Qualitative Thought” (1930) (LW 5: 243-62); Recommended secondary: Leddy & Puolakka, “Dewey’s Aesthetics” (2021) SEP, Alexander, “Dewey’s Aesthetics,” Reading Dewey, Alexander, John Dewey’s Theory of Art, Experience, and Nature: The Horizon of Feeling (Library), Hildebrand, “Aesthetics,” Dewey: A Beginner’s Guide, Eldridge, “Dewey’s Aesthetics,” Cambridge Companion to Dewey (Library), Daniel Reynolds, Media in Mind
   • Presentation by TO
10. Dewey on Religion (3/27)
    • Read: A Common Faith (1934) (LW 9: 3-58); Recommended primary: “Christianity and Democracy” (1893) (EW 4:3–10); Recommended secondary: Alexander, “Introduction”, A Common Faith Second Edition, Rockefeller, “Dewey’s Philosophy of Religious Experience,” Reading Dewey, Hildebrand, “Religion,” Dewey: A Beginner’s Guide, Auxier and Shook, “Idealism and Religion in Dewey’s Philosophy” Oxford Handbook of Dewey, Rogers, The Undiscovered Dewey (Library)
    • Presentation by DW
11. Dewey’s Philosophy of Mind (4/3)
    • Read: Experience and Nature Chapters 6, 7, and 8 (LW 1: 162-265); Recommended: Mark Johnston, “Cognitive science and Dewey’s theory of mind, thought, and language,” Thomas Alexander, “The Embodied Mind”; Review: “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” (ED2: 3-10)
    • Presentation by MT
12. Dewey’s Naturalistic Theory of Inquiry (4/10)
    • Read: Logic: The Theory of Inquiry Chapters 2, 3, and 4 (LW 12: 30-85); Recommended primary: Logic Chapter 1 (LW 12: 9-29), Dewey, Hook, and Nagel, “Are Naturalists Materialists?”; Recommended secondary: Papineau, “Naturalism” SEP (2020), Leonov, “Instrumentalist logic of scientific discovery: reflections on Dewey’s method and its metaphysical foundations”
    • Presentation by AL
    • Assignment Due: Term Paper Draft (Thurs 4/13)
13. Writing Workshop (4/27)
14. Dewey’s Philosophy of Language (4/24)
    • Read: “Nature, Communication, and Meaning” Experience and Nature Ch 5 (1925) (LW 1: 132-160); “Language and the Training of Thought” How We Think rev ed. Ch 16 (1933) (LW 8: 301-14); “What Is It to Be a Linguistic Sign or Name?” (LW 16: 297-309 plus fragment 472-74); Mesthene (1958) “The Role of Language in the Philosophy of John Dewey,” Recommended: Black (1962) “Dewey’s Philosophy of Language,” Dreon (2014) “Dewey on Language: Elements for a Non-Dualistic Approach”
    • Presentation by SH
15. Dewey’s Theory of Value (5/1)
    • Read: “The Logic of Judgments of Practice” (1915) (ED 2:236-71) (MW 8:14-82) (focus on §I. Their Nature and §II Judgements of Value), “Valuation and Experimental Knowledge” (1922) (ED 2:272-86) (MW 13:3-28), “Value, Objective Reference, and Criticism” (1925) (ED 2:287-97) (LW 2:78-97); Recommended primary: Theory of Valuation (1939) (LW 13: 191-251); Recommended secondary: Anderson, “Dewey’s Moral Philosophy” \S 2-3, McDonald, “Dewey’s Theory of Values” (2011), Gouinlock, John Dewey’s Philosophy of Value (1972), Eames, Experience and Value Chapters 4-5
16. Final Exam Week
    • Assignment Due (on May 10): Final Term Paper

Assignments and Grading

1. Participation in class discussions, workshops, etc. (20%)
2. In-class presentations (30%)
3. Term paper (50%)

Participation

Participating will consist of regular, high-quality contributions to class discussion, respectful responses to other students’ contributions, and collaboration in writing workshops and other activities.

In-Class Presentations

Most weeks of the semester will be guided by student choice of specific topics. The presenter(s) for each week will work with the instructor to choose a topic and relevant readings, and will then provide an introductory presentation meant to spur discussion. The presenter(s) and instructor will lead the discussion for the day together.

Term Paper

Your paper should either provide an interpretation of some aspect of Dewey’s philosophical body of work or explore a broadly Deweyan approach to some philosophical topic or problem. Papers can be in a primarily interpretive, systematic, or critical mode. It is my hope that your paper will both contribute to your own larger set of interests as part of your graduate program while constituting a serious engagement with the issues discussed in the course. Particularly of interest are papers that touch on aspects of Dewey’s philosophy w/ reference to either his theory of inquiry or his metaphilosophical commitments. The goal is to produce a paper of near-publishable quality that can then be used as the basis for a publication, or as the basis of a dissertation proposal or chapter, a master’s thesis, etc.

To ease your workload, your paper topic should coincide with one of your presentations.

Outside Research

This is a research paper, and you are required to include primary and secondary sources not assigned in the syllabus for the course; type and amount will very depending on the topic and aims of your paper.

Stage 1: Prospectus

1. 200-300 words that (a) describe the question or problem your paper seeks to address, (b) clearly state the thesis you plan to argue for in the paper, (c) sketch the plan for your paper.
2. List of 6-10 references to primary and secondary sources that you plan to include in the paper

Stage 2: Term Paper Draft

A 2100-3000 word draft of your term paper. The paper should present a complete and coherent argument, though it may not be as extensive or thorough as the final version.

The week after drafts are due, we will hold a peer-review writing workshop in class.

Stage 3: Term Paper Final

3000-5000 words, substantially revised based on peer feedback from drafts and writing workshop.

Paper specifications

Your paper should do all of the following:

• Must contain a clear, easily identifiable, declarative thesis.
  • Not “In this paper I will explore…”
  • Rather: “In this paper I will argue that…”
• The points discussed should be specific and textually supported, engaged with both the primary texts and the secondary literature on the topic.
• Deeper discussions are generally preferable to broad overviews.
• You should consider and respond to alternative interpretations and objections to your argument.
• Must consistently follow a major manual of style (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.) for grammar, citations, and bibliography.
• Paper must have a descriptive title.