American Pragmatism, Democratic Ethics, and Education
Document Type
Chapter
Publication Date
3-7-2024
Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction to American pragmatism as an ethical tradition with educational ramifications. The chapter first explains the origins of pragmatism and accounts for the primary features of pragmatist ethics. It then profiles the ethical views and educational bearings of two classical pragmatists: William James and John Dewey, and the most prominent neopragmatist, Richard Rorty. The chapter shows how pragmatism, from its nineteenth-century origins to its contemporary iterations, approaches education as integral to the ethical and political cultivation of a vibrant, pluralistic, democratic culture. Its philosophical orientation – away from the fixed and timeless and toward the contingent and contextualized – conceives of humans as active but fallible agents pursuing knowledge to address the concrete problems of their communities. Despite their differences, James, Dewey, and Rorty recognized the need to foster individual habits and collective sensibilities that center our moral imaginations, sympathetic attachments to others, and our situatedness in concrete social and natural environments.
Publication
The Cambridge Handbook of Ethics and Education
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Pages
186-212
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Recommended Citation
Waks, L., Voparil, C., & Torrance, J. (2024). American pragmatism, democratic ethics, and education. In S. Fraser-Burgess, J. A. Heybach, & D. Metro-Roland (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Ethics and Education (pp. 186-212). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009188128.013
Comments
Editors: Sheron Fraser-Burgess, Jessica Heybach, and Dini Metro-Roland
Chapter 10
Series: Cambridge Handbooks in Education