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10 - American Pragmatism, Democratic Ethics, and Education

from Part I - Traditions in Ethics and Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

By
Leonard Waks ,
Chris Voparil  and
Justina Torrance
Edited by
Sheron Fraser-Burgess ,
Jessica Heybach  and
Dini Metro-Roland
Sheron Fraser-Burgess
Affiliation:
Ball State University, Indiana
Jessica Heybach
Affiliation:
Florida International University
Dini Metro-Roland
Affiliation:
Western Michigan University
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Summary

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.

Keywords

pragmatismethicseducationcontingencydeliberationWilliam JamesJohn DeweyRichard Rorty
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Ethics and Education , pp. 186 - 212
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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