Hegelian Deposit in John Dewey

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A Search for Unity in Diversity: The "Permanent Hegelian Deposit" in the Philosophy ofJohn Dewey by James A. GoodReview by: Frank X. RyanTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Winter, 2007), pp. 216-225Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40321179 .

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yeviewjJames . GoodA SearchforUnitynDiversity:he "Permanent egelianDeposit" inthePhilosophy fJohnDeweyLanham,D:Lexingtonooks,006. xx 288pp.Among herevelationsfDewey's aremoments fautobiographicalreflection,onehasgenerated ore uriositynd nvestigativeealthanhis1930claim ohave drifted"rom egel nthedecade ollowingismove fromMichigan o Chicago n 1894. Beginning ithMortonWhitesOrigin fDewey Instrumentalism1943), biographersavedivided n the uestionfwhetherewey'sater hilosophyas morestronglynfluencedyWilliam ames'sxperimentalsychologyr E J.E.Woodbridge'sristotelianaturalism.espite heir ifferences,othapproachesre ssentiallympiricalndrealistic,nd thus hemajorityofsympatheticommentatorsaveagreed hatDeweywas a realist,albeit f decidedlynorthodoxtripe.or hem henotion hat eweyretainedny ignificantommitmento dealism,iventsvirtualrad-ication t thebeginningf the twentiethentury,oulddamagehisinfluencend egacy.Ithasbeensomethingf puzzle,ccordingly,hatnthe ame uto-biographicalssayDeweyalludes o a "permanentegeliandeposit."Foryears ichard orty asclaimed his ifferentiates"good"Deweycommittedo"social lourishing"rom "bad"Deweyprone o meta-physicaldalliance.But the first ystematicnquiry nto Dewey'senduring egelianismsJohnR. Shook'sDeweyEmpirical heoryfKnowledgendReality2000). Shookargues onvincinglyhatDeweyneverbandoneddealism,utratherransformedt nto nexperimen-tal naturalismydoing waywith oth mind-stuff"ndequally ox-ious"things-in-themselves."n manywaysJamesGood'sA SearchorUnitynDiversitys a bookend oShook's roject,hough ood furtherdifferentiatesnglo-Americaneo-HegelianismromHegelhimself.AccordingoGood,Dewey ndorsedHumanistic/Historicistnterpre-tation fHegelrootednthereciprocalngagementf ndividualsndsocieties,atherhan he upernaturalnd architectonicbsolute ham-pionedbyNeo-Hegeliansuch s T. H. Green,ndE H. Bradley. ith

2 j g TRANSACTIONS F THE CHARLES . PEIRCE OCIETY Vol.43,No. 1 2007

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top-notchcholarshipndscrupulousttentionodetail,A Searchor ^dUnitynDiversitysboth n excellentntellectualiographynd a pen- Wetratingleafor radical einterpretationfDewey contributiono


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oo 1 Experiencesnoncognitivehabit-grounded)s well scognitive.^ 2. Volition nd ideasareinstrumentalhasesofproblem-solving[jj activitythusminds foremostfacilityorminding).HH 3. The self s preeminentlyn agency f transformationn such^ activities,nd neithern immaterialoulnor mere ggregation^ ofphysical eural vents.4. Objects renot ndependent aterialxistenceso be"accessed"(albeit roblematically!)yequally utonomousminds, utthesuccessfullyttainedbjectivesfdirected-problem-solvingctiv-ities.5. Philosophys nherentlyhe xtensionfthis learning-function"to aestheticnd moral imensionsroadlyharacterizedsa "crit-icism f ulture."

Even fviewedmerelys a portraitf the ntellectuallimatenwhichDewey arne ophilosophy,SearchorUnitynDiversityres-ents compellingasethat he coreof these enetss identifiable,nmorethanmerely erminal orm,n eitherHegel or the AmericanHegelians. nd f o,theres at east trongircumstantialvidencehatwhatDewey ater haracterizedspragmatismrexperimentalatural-ism was substantiallyntact ongbefore is celebrateddrift"romHegel.Assuch, oncludesGood,whileJamesand aterWoodbridge)helpedDeweyfind moreempirical,volutionary,nd naturalisticmeans fexpression,hey id not ubstantiallyhallenger transformhisunderlyingegelianism145-6).But where hehistorianmaybe content o layout thedots, hephilosophersobliged o connecthem,ndto this nd Good defendstwo dditional laims: ) In anhistoricist/humanisticnterpretationfHegel,we find psychologicalndsocial roundf piritastlyuperiorto theformalisticnd theological eanings f theAnglo-Americanneo-Hegelians,nd 2) Deweyhimself othheld sucha historicist/humanisticiew,nd used tto redresshe imitationsfhisown each-ers nd mentors.et meaddresshesenturn.Goodwisely efrainsromlaiminghehistoricist/humanisticnter-pretationecovershe "real"Hegel.Butanyonewho's truggled ithwhat venGood admits s the"vast ndmysteriousdysseyf mind"that s thePhenomenology,rarched n eyebrowverHegePs elebra-tionofpower ndprivilegenthePhilosophyfRight,maybe excusedforwarilynsertingcapital I" into Interpretation."n a dust acketcomment, imGarrisonmarvels hat hose comfortableithDeweythought illbe surprisedt howeasily hey angraspHegel." ndeed!But is thisbecause Good s Hegel is essentially ewey redux? hehistoricist/humanisticegelhasnotruck ith he upernaturalspiritiswholly rganic,ocial, nd historic. ogicis indebted o psychol-218 Sy t^ie elat*onfthe ndividualo the ocialprecludesllappeals o



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intuition,hea priori,rthepurely ormal. ndfromhis t follows ^dthat he bsolute,sevolvingelf-consciousness,ust isthehuman ace Winthe ctivitiesf ts elf evelopment"15). In a point o whichwe'll


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ofwhatDewey, searlys 1890,creditsoexperience:he rganic nity ^dofthe mpiricalndthe ognitiveifferentiatedsphases fproblem- Wsolvingctivity. hereas he reliancefthoughteflectsewey pre-


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oo own cknowledgedebt.For nadditiono the volutionromhought^ toexperience,ewey lso credits antwith nticipatingpragmatic(jlJ priori hich asts thoughtna regulative,irective,ontrollingense,"" \MW : 133) and with methodologicalanalysisftherealityfexpe-^ rience"hat ompletelyejects "worldoul"orcosmologica!bsolute7, designedoexplainhow self et owork, rbynecessityould et owork,omake universe"EW3: 71).These asttwopoints irectlyearupona final bservationboutGood s approach.UnlikeKant,whose ritical hilosophyonfrontedepistemologicalkepticismnd offeredconstructivelternativeor hepossibilityfknowledge, oods historicist/humanisticegelbypassessuchgroundworkimplybyassuming,rom heoutset, hatwe doknow omething,hatwe are ncontactwith heabsolute." sGoodalsonotes, hishas edmany bserverso conclude hatHegelrevertedto a "precriticai"ndulgencen"pre-Kantian etaphysicalpeculationaboutmind ndworld"16-17). The latterendencyowardpecula-tive osmology,swe have ust een, sexactly hatDewey aysKanthelpedhim void.Buteven fwe oinGoodinexoneratingegelfromthischarge, precriticainti-epistemologicaltrain emains: or hehistoricist/humanisticegel heres nogeneral ethodologyor nder-standing ur world whateveran'tbe explainedhistoricallyr byempiricalsychologyust sn'tworthxplaining.Nowclearlyhis iew,which 'll call radical istoricism,ould at-isfyRorty'snterpretationf Hegel, and by association is "good"Deweyas well.4 n a resonant ote,Good applaudsDewey's naivepointof view"famouslyttuned o theproblemsf men nstead fphilosophers.Withoutdiminishingis remarkableontributionoethics ndsocio-politicalheory,t s still ossible osuggesthat hisdoesDewey profoundisservice. e needonly o recall hedeclineof Dewey's influence mong professional hilosophers ollowingBertrand ussell's nfounded utoft epeatedlaim hathe was"justdoingpsychology,"ndthusnot attuned odeveloping formalogiccapableofquantifyinghe "realworld" f theeducated hysicist;rMorris ohen'sprotesthatDewey'sworkwas"philosophicalnthro-pology" imply otattunedothe genda fphilosophersngagednnaturalistic etaphysics.In anobservationntended o be ironic, ood cites young ewey"whowouldultimatelyecometheconsummate istoricist"nitiallyaffirmingnatemporalbsolute138).As we have een,Dewey omestodeny n absolute onsistingfthoughtrreason, ut this oesnotmeanheabandoned hequestfor n absolute.nstead, e convertedtintoa comprehensivexplicationf experience:n explicationhatcouldboth xpose eficienciesnvarious ormsf dealismsndrealismsandofferconstructiveew pproachoage-old uestionsbout ruth,

222



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objectivity,nowledge,nd reality.his constructivepproach, lti- J#mately ubbed he "method finquiry,"efeats he notion freality Wiiberhauptnd then ffershe lternativef experiencedeals" scogni-


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c/3 Finally,n acknowledging eweys debtto Kant,I am byno means^ suggestinghathe everhad a great ffinityorKant orpreferredimto[jj Hegel. Quite to thecontrary, hatever ntipathy ewey had forHegelHH over thehegemonyof thought s tripled n spades for Kant on many^ fronts, hough none more vigorously han Kant's refusal o extend7J experiencento therealmofvalues andmorals Goods account ofthisis bothfirst ate and fair. he pointis simply hatDewey droppedhislure n a numberof differenttreams,nd amongthose ofnote shouldalso include Bains link between action and knowledge, Coleridge'ssocial theology, erkeley'snd Locke'srecognition fthesign-functionofsense,themore thanterminological ebtowed to Peirce,James, ndGeorgeHerbertMead, and even the curious factthat Plato providedDewey'sfavoritephilosophicalreading. uchreflectionstifle hetemp-tation to inflate Hegelian deposit nto a mother ode, and remindusof the extentofDewey's genius, profundity,nd originality.uperblyresearched nd brilliantlyrgued,A Searchfor Unity n Diversitys,indeed,a highly uccessful earch thatcapturesDewey'sreflectionn abold newlightwe'll be talking bout foryears o come.FrankX. RyanKent [email protected]

NOTES1 JohnDewey.TheEarlyWorksf ohn ewey EW), Vol. Ed. JoAnnBoyd-ston.Carbondale and Edwardsville: outhern llinoisUniversityress,1978, p.17.Hereafter eferenceso TheEarlyWorksEW), The Middle WorksMW) andTheLaterWorksLW) intheBoydston ditionswillappear n the text.2. JohnDewey,"On Some CurrentConceptionsof the Term Self,'"EW 3:71-72. The essay Kant andPhilosophicMethod"documentshefact hatDeweyattributed unity f ntellect nd sense to Kantearlynhisphilosophic evelop-ment, or here e states hat hese houldnot be viewed s separate reconditionsofknowledge, ut rather s reciprocal artnersna nonvicious organicircle:" acirclewhich,Kant would say, xists n thecase itself,whichexpresses heverynature fknowledge." W 1: 38.3. JohnDewey,DemocracyndEducation,MW 9: 64.4. ThoughRorty, fcourse, ouches this n aestheticensibilities, here ci-ence is butonemanifestationf maginativeultural rtifice.5. That said, I findGood's occasionalforaysntoontological nd epistemo-logical subjects, n thewhole, esssatisfyinghan hisoutstanding iscussions ftheself, oncognitive xperience, olition, thics nd social ssues. n one digres-sion,for nstance,Hegel'snotion of experience s likenedto an explorer singsonarto "mediate"investigationf a distant nchor an analogy o suggestivefrepresentationalealism s togive nyone ttuned o thecritical roblem case of, the bends (20). In other discussions internal elations"whichDewey later



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emphaticallyejected),mind s activity,"truthsexperientialoherence,"nd d"the ntologicalquivalencef houghtnd xistence"re antalizinglyuggestive, \r\butneveruite roughtogethernto coherent orldview.oodalsofalls ie-

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Hegelian Deposit in John Dewey