Dewey (The Arguments of the Philosophers)

276 Pages·1990·0.8 MB·English

by  Tiles

DEWEY
The Arguments of
the Philosophers
EDITOR: TED HONDERICH
Grote Professor of the Philosophy
of Mind and Logic, University College, London
The purpose of this series is to provide a contemporary assessment and
history of the entire course of philosophical thought. Each book
constitutes a detailed, critical introduction to the work of a philosopher
of major influence and significance.

Already published in the series
Augustine Christopher Kirwan
J.L.Austin G.J.Warnock
Ayer John Foster
Bentham Ross Harrison
Bergson A.R.Lacey
Berkeley George Pitcher
Butler Terence Penelhum
Descartes Margaret Dauler Wilson
Dewey J.E.Tiles
Gottlob Frege Hans Sluga
Hegel M.J.Inwood
Hobbes Tom Sorell
Hume Barry Stroud
Husserl David Bell
William James Graham Bird
Kant Ralph C.S.Walker
Kierkegaard Alastair Hannay
Karl Marx Allen Wood
John Stuart Mill J.Skorupski
G.E.Moore Tom Baldwin
Nietzsche Richard Schacht
Peirce Christopher Hookway
Plato J.C.B.Gosling
Karl Popper Anthony O’Hear
The Presocratic Philosophers Jonathan Barnes
Russell R.M.Sainsbury
Sartre Peter Caws
Schopenhauer D.W.Hamlyn
Socrates Gerasimos Xenophon Santas
Spinoza R.J.Delahunty
Wittgenstein Robert J.Fogelin
DEWEY
J.E.Tiles
London and New York
First published 1988
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Paperback edition first published 1990
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001.

© 1988, 1990 J.E.Tiles
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Tiles, J.E.
Dewey.—(The arguments of the philosophers)
1. American philosophy. Dewey, John,
1859–1952. Biographies
I. Title II. Series
191.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Tiles, J.E.
Dewey/J.E.Tiles. p. cm.—(The Arguments of the
philosophers)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index:
1. Dewey, John, 1859–1952. I. Title. II. Series.
B945.D44T55 1988
191–dc19

ISBN 0-203-00984-3 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-20381-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-05310-2 (Print Edition)
For my parents

Contents
Preface x
Acknowledgments xiv
I LEGACIES 1
Section a: Dewey’s place in the history of philosophy 1
Section b: What is needed to make use of Dewey’s
philosophy 5
Section c: The external world 10
Section d: Genesis and justification 14
Section e: Methods and fallacies 19
II SENSATION, EMOTION AND REFLEX ACTION 25
Section a: The psychological standpoint 25
Section b: Residues of dualism 31
Section c: James’s theory of emotion 35
Section d: Object and inhibition 40
Section e: The reflex arc concept 45
III THE EMERGENCE OF MIND AND QUALITIES 49
Section a: The status of qualities 49
Section b: Life and sentiency 55
Section c: Meaning and time 59
Section d: Sense and signification 64
Section e: Illusory viewpoints 69
vii
CONTENTS
IV LANGUAGE AND SELF 77
Section a: Mind in individuals and individual minds 77
Section b: Individualism and nominalism 82
Section c: Communication intention 86
Section d: The grasp of relationships 92
Section e: The tool of tools 98
V TRUTH AND INQUIRY 104
Section a: The instrumentalist conception of truth 104
Section b: ‘Inquiry’ vs.‘Enquiry’ 110
Section c: Enquiring after the absolute 116
Section d: Context and the conditioning of inquiry 120
Section e: Actors and spectators 124
VI DEWEY AND THE REALISTS 130
Section a: Meaning and means of verification 130
Section b: What truly represents the past 135
Section c: Perception and the old realism 141
Section d: The new realism 146
Section e: The new idealism? 151
VII OBJECTIVITY, VALUE AND MOTIVATION 154
Section a: The aims and means of inquiry 154
Section b: Means to the determination of ends 157
Section c: The constitution of values 161
Section d: The combat of passion and reason 167
Section e: Will and its weaknesses 171
VIII ART, INTELLIGENCE AND CONTEMPLATION 180
Section a: Temporal quality 180
Section b: Imagination in experience 184
Section c: Genuine instrumentality 189
Section d: The characteristic human need 195
Section e: Nothing in nature is exclusively final 199
IX IDEALS 204
Section a: Public and private 204
Section b: Community 210
viii
CONTENTS
Section c: Faith in science 213
Section d: Unfinished selves 218
Section e: Freedom 223
Notes 228
References 247
Index 252
ix