My book offers a new perspective on the foundations of John Dewey’s philosophy and so
tilts our understanding of his religious, ethical and political reflections in a radically
different direction. To say “radically different” seems a bit cavalier. After all, in the past
two decades the field of Dewey scholarship has increased. Several influential monographs
have been written by Cornel West, Robert Westbrook, James Kloppenberg, Alan Ryan,
John Patrick Diggins, and Steven Rockefeller, making the field a crowded one. Yet, even
in these important contributions, Dewey is consistently understood as a child of the
Enlightenment regarding his appreciation for scientific inquiry. Despite his consistent
rejection of philosophical and theological certainties, his outlook seems inescapably
wedded to a progressive view of experience. Indeed, all of these thinkers are united by a
singular worry: Dewey’s conception of inquiry is based on an ontology that orients
human beings to the world in such a way that denies the fragility of life that a thorough-
going experimentalism demands. While there is much to recommend in the work of these
scholars, their view of Dewey is at best overdrawn and at worst simply mistaken.
All of these scholars miss or diminish the profound influence of Charles Darwin’s account
of evolution and the corresponding ideas of contingency and uncertainty on Dewey’s
notion of inquiry. By focusing on this influence, I show that for Dewey, our cognitive
abilities are both stimulated and potentially frustrated by contingency, and this beginning
point guides even as it humbles the significance of human existence. While he retains the
humanistic and political hopes of the Enlightenment, those hopes are cautiously advanced
and defended given the contingent background from which they follow. The result, as
Dewey explains in his 1910 essay, “The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy,” is that
Darwin “introduced a mode of thinking that in the end was bound to transform the logic
of knowledge, and hence the treatment of morals, politics, and religion.” To follow
this line of inquiry, as this book does, is to encounter The Undiscovered Dewey.
My purpose in this book is to investigate and reconstruct the historical framework in
which Dewey’s appreciation for Darwin is located, on the one hand, and interpret
and distill its epistemological and normative importance in guiding human life,
on the other. I trace the way in which the former—as articulated through the themes of
inquiry and contingency—informs and appropriately directs the latter as revealed
in Dewey’s engagement with religious, moral and democratic commitments. As such, the
book unfolds across stretches of his writings, while holding in view and exploring
the different dimensions of the connection between inquiry and contingency.
The line from Dewey’s essay on Darwin provides the rejoinder to his critics, but also the
outline, interpretative goals, and organizing structure for the book. The text is divided
into two primary parts. In Part One—“From Certainty to Contingency”—chapters 1-2, I
analyze the importance of contingency in Dewey’s philosophy of action, and the precise
relationship between that account and what he says about inquiry. This requires that we
turn our attention, as intellectual historians, to the ascendancy of Darwin’s notion of
evolution within the context of nineteenth-century liberal Protestantism with which Dewey
is often allied. The project attempts to understand better than we do how each—that is,
liberal Protestants and Dewey—appropriates Darwin’s vision of evolution. What emerges
is a startling and critical distinction, the result of which orients the reader differently to the
foundations of Dewey’s philosophy. While his liberal Protestant counterparts exploit
evolution as a story about progress, Dewey argues that inquiry proceeds from and
does not presume to overcome the uncertainty that characterizes human action. The result
is that Dewey separates the meaningfulness of inquiry from a larger metaphysical story
about human development, while simultaneously opening our commitments to
reflective re-evaluation and public contestability in the context of our on-going social
practices. There is a guiding insight at work in this account to which scholars have paid
little or no attention, but which this project uncovers for readers: Dewey's account of
inquiry attempts a transformation in the modern self-understanding that at once
encourages a Promethean intervention in managing our social and natural
environments, but which constrains action by highlighting its intimate relationship to
uncertainty. That the Enlightenment gave birth to Dewey's outlook cannot be denied,
but it is a vision that, in his hands, has reached maturity.
In Part Two—“Religion, The Moral Life and Democracy”—chapters 3-5, the book
is more explicitly philosophical than historical. I explore and explicate the relationship
between inquiry—now understood as preceding from a more contingent foundation—and
Dewey’s religious, moral and political philosophy. As I argue, Dewey does not seek to
abandon religious commitments as many scholars have thought, but to re-describe their
place within the context of democracy. He is thus sensitive to modern pluralism,
especially the absence of a dominant theological frame of reference that would otherwise
guide the substantive content of our lives individually and collectively. Moreover, his
reliance on inquiry is attentive to the presence of moral conflict, and although inquiry
seeks to achieve resolution among conflicting moral claims, Dewey acknowledges that the
result of reflection may reveal the incommensurability of values.
In its political context, his position provides us with a way to manage the relationship
among experts and the larger public so that power does not lapse into domination. These
discrete, but connected accounts revolve around the centrality of the reflective and
contestable character of inquiry. Indeed, they are seen, in this study, as emerging from a
mature vision of human enlightenment—an account that demands intervention on our part
and cautions humility at every turn.
back to first page>>>
tilts our understanding of his religious, ethical and political reflections in a radically
different direction. To say “radically different” seems a bit cavalier. After all, in the past
two decades the field of Dewey scholarship has increased. Several influential monographs
have been written by Cornel West, Robert Westbrook, James Kloppenberg, Alan Ryan,
John Patrick Diggins, and Steven Rockefeller, making the field a crowded one. Yet, even
in these important contributions, Dewey is consistently understood as a child of the
Enlightenment regarding his appreciation for scientific inquiry. Despite his consistent
rejection of philosophical and theological certainties, his outlook seems inescapably
wedded to a progressive view of experience. Indeed, all of these thinkers are united by a
singular worry: Dewey’s conception of inquiry is based on an ontology that orients
human beings to the world in such a way that denies the fragility of life that a thorough-
going experimentalism demands. While there is much to recommend in the work of these
scholars, their view of Dewey is at best overdrawn and at worst simply mistaken.
All of these scholars miss or diminish the profound influence of Charles Darwin’s account
of evolution and the corresponding ideas of contingency and uncertainty on Dewey’s
notion of inquiry. By focusing on this influence, I show that for Dewey, our cognitive
abilities are both stimulated and potentially frustrated by contingency, and this beginning
point guides even as it humbles the significance of human existence. While he retains the
humanistic and political hopes of the Enlightenment, those hopes are cautiously advanced
and defended given the contingent background from which they follow. The result, as
Dewey explains in his 1910 essay, “The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy,” is that
Darwin “introduced a mode of thinking that in the end was bound to transform the logic
of knowledge, and hence the treatment of morals, politics, and religion.” To follow
this line of inquiry, as this book does, is to encounter The Undiscovered Dewey.
My purpose in this book is to investigate and reconstruct the historical framework in
which Dewey’s appreciation for Darwin is located, on the one hand, and interpret
and distill its epistemological and normative importance in guiding human life,
on the other. I trace the way in which the former—as articulated through the themes of
inquiry and contingency—informs and appropriately directs the latter as revealed
in Dewey’s engagement with religious, moral and democratic commitments. As such, the
book unfolds across stretches of his writings, while holding in view and exploring
the different dimensions of the connection between inquiry and contingency.
The line from Dewey’s essay on Darwin provides the rejoinder to his critics, but also the
outline, interpretative goals, and organizing structure for the book. The text is divided
into two primary parts. In Part One—“From Certainty to Contingency”—chapters 1-2, I
analyze the importance of contingency in Dewey’s philosophy of action, and the precise
relationship between that account and what he says about inquiry. This requires that we
turn our attention, as intellectual historians, to the ascendancy of Darwin’s notion of
evolution within the context of nineteenth-century liberal Protestantism with which Dewey
is often allied. The project attempts to understand better than we do how each—that is,
liberal Protestants and Dewey—appropriates Darwin’s vision of evolution. What emerges
is a startling and critical distinction, the result of which orients the reader differently to the
foundations of Dewey’s philosophy. While his liberal Protestant counterparts exploit
evolution as a story about progress, Dewey argues that inquiry proceeds from and
does not presume to overcome the uncertainty that characterizes human action. The result
is that Dewey separates the meaningfulness of inquiry from a larger metaphysical story
about human development, while simultaneously opening our commitments to
reflective re-evaluation and public contestability in the context of our on-going social
practices. There is a guiding insight at work in this account to which scholars have paid
little or no attention, but which this project uncovers for readers: Dewey's account of
inquiry attempts a transformation in the modern self-understanding that at once
encourages a Promethean intervention in managing our social and natural
environments, but which constrains action by highlighting its intimate relationship to
uncertainty. That the Enlightenment gave birth to Dewey's outlook cannot be denied,
but it is a vision that, in his hands, has reached maturity.
In Part Two—“Religion, The Moral Life and Democracy”—chapters 3-5, the book
is more explicitly philosophical than historical. I explore and explicate the relationship
between inquiry—now understood as preceding from a more contingent foundation—and
Dewey’s religious, moral and political philosophy. As I argue, Dewey does not seek to
abandon religious commitments as many scholars have thought, but to re-describe their
place within the context of democracy. He is thus sensitive to modern pluralism,
especially the absence of a dominant theological frame of reference that would otherwise
guide the substantive content of our lives individually and collectively. Moreover, his
reliance on inquiry is attentive to the presence of moral conflict, and although inquiry
seeks to achieve resolution among conflicting moral claims, Dewey acknowledges that the
result of reflection may reveal the incommensurability of values.
In its political context, his position provides us with a way to manage the relationship
among experts and the larger public so that power does not lapse into domination. These
discrete, but connected accounts revolve around the centrality of the reflective and
contestable character of inquiry. Indeed, they are seen, in this study, as emerging from a
mature vision of human enlightenment—an account that demands intervention on our part
and cautions humility at every turn.
back to first page>>>
"This book wrestles intelligently with a central
question regarding John Dewey's political
thought—his optimism and holism-and defends a
view that's both controversial and interesting." —
Eric MacGilvray, Ohio State University
"Melvin L. Roger's The Undiscovered Dewey
is the best book on our greatest public
philosopher since Robert Westbrook's classic text
on John Dewey. It is one of those rare works that
would make Dewey smile and Richard Rorty grin
from the grave." — Cornel West, Princeton
University
"If you don't know much about John Dewey's
writings on religion, ethics, and politics, this book
is the ideal place to start. If, on the other hand,
you think you have Dewey pegged, you should
still read this book, because every chapter of it
will surprise and instruct you. Melvin L. Rogers
has provided a bold, fresh, exhaustively
researched reinterpretation of America's greatest
democratic theorist. " — Jeffrey Stout,
Princeton University, author of Democracy
and Tradition
"If John Dewey too seldom dwelt on the darker
dimensions of human experience and the
necessary limits within which we struggle to
enrich our lives, he well knew they were there.
Melvin L. Rogers rescues Dewey from the
brightly-lit, ever-smiling caricature of his critics
and ably portrays him in chiaroscuro—giving us a
democratic philosopher not of naïve optimism but
of chastened hope. Precisely what we need." —
Robert Westbrook, University of Rochester,
author of Democratic Hope: Pragmatism and
the Politics of Truth
question regarding John Dewey's political
thought—his optimism and holism-and defends a
view that's both controversial and interesting." —
Eric MacGilvray, Ohio State University
"Melvin L. Roger's The Undiscovered Dewey
is the best book on our greatest public
philosopher since Robert Westbrook's classic text
on John Dewey. It is one of those rare works that
would make Dewey smile and Richard Rorty grin
from the grave." — Cornel West, Princeton
University
"If you don't know much about John Dewey's
writings on religion, ethics, and politics, this book
is the ideal place to start. If, on the other hand,
you think you have Dewey pegged, you should
still read this book, because every chapter of it
will surprise and instruct you. Melvin L. Rogers
has provided a bold, fresh, exhaustively
researched reinterpretation of America's greatest
democratic theorist. " — Jeffrey Stout,
Princeton University, author of Democracy
and Tradition
"If John Dewey too seldom dwelt on the darker
dimensions of human experience and the
necessary limits within which we struggle to
enrich our lives, he well knew they were there.
Melvin L. Rogers rescues Dewey from the
brightly-lit, ever-smiling caricature of his critics
and ably portrays him in chiaroscuro—giving us a
democratic philosopher not of naïve optimism but
of chastened hope. Precisely what we need." —
Robert Westbrook, University of Rochester,
author of Democratic Hope: Pragmatism and
the Politics of Truth
| THE UNDISCOVERED DEWEY RELIGION, MORALITY, AND THE ETHOS OF DEMOCRACY Melvin L. Rogers Columbia University Press, 2008 ORDER TODAY ORDER FROM AMAZON TODAY |
 |  |  |  |  |  |