Topic 2: Dewey on Democracy John Dewey was an American Pragmatist philosopher wh

Question

Topic 2: Dewey on Democracy

John Dewey was an American Pragmatist philosopher who wrote extensively on a broad range of issues from the nature of the mind, to education and politics. We read a text of his on the nature of democracy as a way of life (1937). He sees human nature as capable of democracy but also analyzes what he sees as pervasive positive and negative feedback loops in societies that already are respectively democratically or non-democratically organized.

Present and explain Dewey’s view of democracy. Why is democratic institutions and regular voting procedures not enough to guarantee full democracy as a way of life?

Explanation / Answer

There are 3 major lines of argument for democracy in mature political philosophy of Dewey : democracy as the protection of popular interests; democracy as the expression of individuality as well as democracy as social inquiry

For Dewey, At the minimum, democracy contains the expression of interests on the part of voters; vote helps to protect persons from putative experts regarding where the interests of people lie. A class of experts would inevitably slide in a class whose interests separate from those of the rest and turns a committee of oligarchs. So ‘the strongest point be made on behalf of such rudimentary political makes as democracy has attained, majority rule, popular voting, and so on, is that to much extent they involve a discussion and consultation that concerns social troubles’ and need.  Dewey stresses the significance of consultation, discussion, debate and persuasion in democratic decision-making. These processes deepen and extend the public awareness of the problems under discussion, as well as aid to inform the ‘administrative specialist’ of the needs of society.

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