John Dewey

Spreading participatory governance in a controlling State: “Councils for Development” in France and Aquitaine.

by David Capes

In France there is a traditional opposition to ways of democracy that are not under control of
representative... more In France there is a traditional opposition to ways of democracy that are not under control of
representative and/or administrative government. This can be better understood through the history of
how the French Republic has fought against its enemies. But since about forty years, under the pressure
of nation-based groups and international organisations, France has developed a legal framework in order
to encourage new ways of citizen participation in public policies and public services. These regulations
are being both abundant and not compulsory. Few good uses are made of these new opportunities for
citizen participation, which are often considered as counterproductive. Nevertheless, since the end of the
1990s, numerous experiences of inter-city non-governmental organisations called “Councils for
Development” (“Conseils de développement”) have started to generate new opportunities for citizens to
take part in decision-making and implementing processes of local public policies, often multiinstitutionnal
ones. This paper presents programmes that aim at activating citizen participation in the
Region of Aquitaine (region of Bordeaux). The programmes are inspired by social-pragmatist principles
and started with specific citizens: entrepreneurs members of Chambers of Commerce & Industry,
Chamber of Craft-Industry, and/or Chamber of Agriculture. They provided local participatory public
policies aiming at developing economic or social potentials. The article stress two types of results: first,
private-public partnerships aiming at improving local policies of employment and professional training;
second, the commitment and sometimes the leadership of firms in defining local environmental policies
(for example waste management) that help different levels of government to find local partners.

Artful Discussion: John Dewey's Classroom as a Model of Deliberative Association

by Jason Kosnoski

John Dewey's Social Aesthetics

by Jason Kosnoski

Is John Dewey a Communitarian?

by Jason Kosnoski

"The Paradox of Freedom: John Dewey on Human Nature, Culture, and Education"

by Cherilyn Keall

Forthcoming in EDUCATION AND CULTURE.

Reconstructing Responsibility and Moral Agency in World Politics

by Joe Hoover

Draft version of article published in 'International Theory', Volume 4, Issue 2 (2012), 1-36.

Assigning responsibility is increasingly common in world politics, from the United Nation’s assertion that sovereignty... more Assigning responsibility is increasingly common in world politics, from the United Nation’s assertion that sovereignty entails a “responsibility to protect” to the International Criminal Court’s attempts to hold individuals responsible for international crimes. This development is welcome but problematic as the model of moral agency that our contemporary practices of responsibility are based on leads to a number of problematic consequences that impede efforts to make world politics more just. In particular, our contemporary practices of responsibility are excessively focused on the obligations of individual and collective actors, at the expense of enabling conditions, and on holding specific perpetrators accountable, neglecting the need for wider social transformations in response to mass violence and suffering. Alternative understandings of moral agency, which better serve international/global practices of responsibility, are possible and here I defend an understanding of moral agency based on the philosophy of John Dewey. The critical insights and practical possibilities of this alternative understanding of moral agency are explored with reference to international interventions in Sierra Leone and Uganda.

Dewey, Interests and Distinctive Schools of Choice.

by Terri Wilson

Published 2011.  In Philosophy of Education 2010, Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Aesthetic Experience Through Narrativity

by Donovan Irven

Democracy, value inquiry, and Dewey's metaphysics

by H.G. Callaway

Leaf Map: Environmental Art Museum Program

by Stacey Marie Garcia

Creativity and folk art: A study of creative action in traditional craft

by Vlad Glaveanu

Forthcoming in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

The present article aims to explore creativity in craftwork using the case of Easter egg decoration, a folk art chosen... more The present article aims to explore creativity in craftwork using the case of Easter egg decoration, a folk art chosen for its traditional roots and diversity of artistic outcomes. The research presented here contributes to the literature at: a) a theoretical level, by conceptualising a pragmatist-inspired framework of creative activity, b) a methodological level, by using, beside observation and interview, subjective cameras to record activity, and c) at an empirical level, considering the fact that creativity in folk art has often been a neglected topic. The two studies included in the article employed the participation of 20 different egg decorators of various ages from the village of Ciocӑneşti in northern Romania. The first research was concerned with general stages of traditional egg decoration and their characteristics, while the second investigation took a closer look at variations associated with the activity path, the generalities and specificities of work and how they could be accounted for, particularly in terms of expert - novice differences. These studies revealed the many ways in which creativity is intrinsic to Easter egg decoration and the final discussion of the article summarises them with reference to processes of combination and change, copying and translation, personal style and creative identity. In the end, an understanding of “micro” moments of creativity in craft is achieved, one that can help us rethink the relation between tradition and creativity, between folk and fine art.

Keywords: folk art, Easter egg decoration, creative activity, pragmatism, subjective cameras

Reclaiming Experience: Aesthetics & Multimodal Storytelling

by Aimee Knight

Aimee Knight. Computers and Composition: An International Journal. (2013)

Recent scholarship points to the rhetorical role of the aesthetic in multimodal composition and new media contexts. In... more Recent scholarship points to the rhetorical role of the aesthetic in multimodal composition and new media contexts. In this article, soon to be published in Computers and Composition: An International Journal, I examine the aesthetic as a rhetorical concept in writing studies and imagine the ways in which this concept can be useful to teachers of multimodal composition. My treatment of the concept begins with a return to the ancient Greek aisthetikos (relating to perception by the senses) in order to discuss the aesthetic as a meaningful mode of experience. I then review European conceptions of the aesthetic and finally draw from John Dewey and Bruno Latour to help shape this concept into a pragmatic and useful approach that can compliment multimodal teaching and learning. The empirical approach I construct adds to an understanding of aesthetic experience with media in order to render more transparent the ways in which an audience creates knowledge—or takes and makes meaning—via the senses. Significantly, this approach to meaning making supports learning in digital environments where students are increasingly asked to both produce and consume media convergent texts that combine multiple modalities including sound, image, and user interaction.

Pragmatism as an Origin of Philosophical Species

by Zachary Piso

Presented at the 2012 SAAP Conference, Fordham University

Reconstructs Dewey's notion of growth through dialogue with ecological investigations of resilience. Argues that... more Reconstructs Dewey's notion of growth through dialogue with ecological investigations of resilience. Argues that ecological inquiry can reveal axioms that sustain the biotic community's adaptation to precarious situations.

Quelle nouvelle histoire pour la recherche en communication? Le cas de Walter Lippmann

by Dominique Trudel

Publié dans Communication, Mars 2012.

Drawing from recent historical work on Walter Lippmann, this research brief discusses the epistemological and... more Drawing from recent historical work on Walter Lippmann, this research brief discusses the epistemological and political issues related to the “new history” of communication research. Specifically, two new historical interpretations are challenged: first the framing of Lippmann as an heir of American pragmatism, and second an appraisal of Lippmann’s ideas as fundamentally democratic.


Cette note de recherche interroge les enjeux épistémologiques et politiques inhérents à la « nouvelle histoire » de la recherche en communication à partir d’une discussion de récents travaux consacrés à Walter Lippmann. Plus précisément, cette note critique deux interprétations émanant de ce courant, soit la thèse de la filiation de Lippmann au pragmatisme et la thèse
d’une pensée fondamentalement démocratique.

Democratic Governance: Understanding Democratic Governance and its Effect on the Educational Developmental Policy

by Dr. David Kenneth Waldman

This paper offers a new perception for democratic governance social policy making. Democratic governance theory can... more This paper offers a new perception for democratic governance social policy making. Democratic governance theory can put into practice effective public policy solutions for educational development. A synthesis of the theories of Madison and Rousseau demonstrates a broad theoretical understanding of how democratic institutions govern as well as how education inequalities are resolved. An analysis of Dewey presents the theoretical background for comparing American education with the democratic governance theories of Madison and Rousseau. Bertalanffy general system theory demonstrates how the new governance theory centripetalism, Dewey’s philosophy of education, can be synthesized to become a theoretical foundation for an education development policy. The learning objective will construct from the broad analysis of this paper how developing nations may model a blend of the best ideas of Madison and Rousseau democratic governance that promotes sustainable educational development opportunities.

Review of John Dewey and Continental Philosophy, Paul Fairfield, ed. Carbondale and Edwardsville IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010; viii+ 272 pp.; $60.00 (hardcover) …

by Cherilyn Keall

Published in Dialogue, Vol. 50, Special Issue 03, September 2011, pp. 623-627

Examining the aesthetic dimensions of teaching: Relationships between knowledge, identity and passion

by Linda Hobbs

Hobbs, L. (2012). Examining the aesthetic dimensions of teaching: Relationships between teacher knowledge, identity and passion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(5), 718–727.

Having an appreciation for the subject, their students and what the subject can offer their students has both... more Having an appreciation for the subject, their students and what the subject can offer their students has both cognitive and emotional dimensions for teachers. This paper uses empirical data to explore the efficacy of a Deweyan inspired framework called “Aesthetic Understanding” to scrutinise relationships between teacher knowledge, identity and passion. The paper uses case study data of three teachers of maths and/or science generated from a video study to illustrate the relationships between the three elements of Aesthetic Understanding. The need to value the aesthetic dimensions of teaching when examining the subject-specific nature of secondary teaching is discussed.

Habits of Freedom: John Dewey and the Art of Education

by Cherilyn Keall

Doctoral dissertation (University of Guelph, 2010)

This thesis is an investigation of the relationship among education, human nature, human culture, and human freedom.... more This thesis is an investigation of the relationship among education, human nature, human culture, and human freedom. The basic idea behind the thesis is that education is essential to realizing our freedom, where freedom is conceived positively rather than merely negatively. Specifically, through an analysis of John Dewey's view of human nature, I show that human culture is a necessary but not sufficient condition for human freedom. A surprising corollary of this argument about the relationship between human nature and human freedom is that, if left to run its natural course, human culture in fact tends not to enable but rather to preclude human freedom. Hence, there are very specific cultural practices—habits acquired through education—that are required if we are to realize our freedom. Through an analysis of the interrelationship among Dewey's conceptions of habit, growth, and mind, I show that the habits of growth that must be acquired if we are to realize our freedom are primarily habits of mind. I then examine three specific categories of habits of mind that I contend are necessary but not sufficient for human fulfilment, namely, habits of self-knowledge, self-control, and meaningful self-expression. The development of such habits is not sufficient for human fulfilment, because it is impossible to account for the contingent objective conditions that one encounters over the course of living. However, the development of such habits is necessary for human fulfilment, because, without such habits, we cannot partake in the kind of adaptive change that constitutes an effective response to our ever-changing physical and social environments.

Between Mysticism and Medical Materialism: The Relevance of William James and John Dewey for the Question of Neurotheology.

by Jonathan Weidenbaum

Originally delivered at a conference:: Mysticism Without Bounds, Bangalore, India. January 2011.

It is now published in a Tattva, Journal of Philosophy. Christ University, Bangalore.

Vygotsky, Dewey, and Externalism: Beyond the Student/Discipline Dichotomy.

by David R. Russell