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From [“Political Ethics”] to [“Social Philosophy”]: The Need for Social Theory
- Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy
- Indiana University Press
- Volume 53, Number 1, Winter 2017
- pp. 90-106
- 10.2979/trancharpeirsoc.53.1.06
- Article
- Additional Information
The purpose of this article is to provide a generic account of John Dewey’s project of social philosophy. Dewey began lecturing on social philosophy when he became aware that society cannot be considered as a social organism and that a philosophical approach to social problems should bring various social sciences into alignment. As a result, social philosophy should be grounded not only in a social psychology, but also in a social theory. This article also shows that Dewey’s social philosophy consists in a theory of the method that is applied in The Public and its Problems, Individualism Old and New, and other books and articles. As a method of intelligent social criticism, social philosophy should therefore be considered as a genuine and decisive part of Dewey’s mature philosophical endeavors.