John Dewey’s Experimental Politics: Inquiry and Legitimacy

Dewey’s interpreters disagree widely over 1) the definition he gives to democracy and 2) the justification, if any, he provides for it. By connecting Dewey’s writings on politics with those on experimental method, I will outline an account of experimental political inquiry wherein publics working through problems—with the aid but not direction of philosophers—determine the right course of action for them. Instead of providing a defense of a democratic value or procedure in advance, Dewey suggests that the validation of democratic ends and means is to be found in the ways that they actually help ameliorate the difficulties people face. The experimental framework he provides can best be understood by—and requires—rethinking the problem of legitimacy as defined by many philosophers. Since the value of an experimental approach must itself be shown experimentally, I will conclude by outlining the ways it suggests that the “current economic crisis” might be addressed.