Evolution's First Philosopher: John Dewey and the Continuity of Nature

Contents

Reading Guide xi 1. Evolution and Philosophy 1 Introduction 1 Darwin’s Influence on Dewey 3 Russell’s Rejection of Evolution 5 What about Genetic Determinism? 8 Ultranaturalism 10 The Discussion Thus Far 12 Consider Reading 13 PART I. THEORY OF EVOLUTION 2. What Is Darwinian Evolution? 17 Introduction 17 Sources of Variation 19 Three Kinds of Selection 25 The X and Y Chromosomes 28 Lamarckian Evolution 31 The Discussion Thus Far 35 Consider Reading 35 3. Preparedness versus Plasticity 37 Dewey and Unlearned Activities 37 Where Impulses Come From 40 vii Contents Preparedness versus Plasticity 43 Is Euclidean Geometry Innate? 46 The Discussion Thus Far 50 Consider Reading 51 4. Brain Development and the Emergence of the Mind 53 The Triune View of the Brain 53 The Brain and Information Processing 54 Neuron Elimination 57 The Theory of Memes 60 From Consciousness to Mindedness 64 The Mind as a Virtual Machine 68 The Discussion Thus Far 70 Consider Reading 71 PART II. MORALITY NATURALIZED 5. Can Evolution Tell Us What to Do? 75 Does Natural Selection Have Foresight? 75 The Problem of the Normative 79 Dewey’s Solution 81 Democracy as Means 84 Intelligence as End 86 Means-Ends Logic 89 The Discussion Thus Far 93 Consider Reading 94 6. Democracy and the Baldwin Effect 95 Intelligence as Inherently Social 95 The Moral Context of Growth 97 Dewey’s Criteria for Democracy 101 The Baldwin Effect 103 Democracy and the Baldwin Effect 106 Memeopathy as an Obstacle to Growth 110 Developing Autonomous Agents 111 Philosophy for a Small Planet 114 The Discussion Thus Far 117 Consider Reading 117 CONTENTS viii 7. Evolution and Liberalism 119 Introduction 119 Three Views of the Individual-Society Relationship 120 Classical Liberalism 122 Dewey’s New Liberalism 126 Why Nondemocratic Schools Are Miseducative 128 Thomas West’s Attack on Dewey’s Progressive Liberalism 130 Thomas West versus Thomas Jefferson 134 Is Dewey’s Theory of Mind Too Optimistic? 136 The Discussion Thus Far 140 Consider Reading 140 Afterword 141 Bibliography 143 Index 149 CONTENTS ix ...