As multimodal composing plays more prominent roles in academic, professional, and public life, writing centers are challenged to take on multiliteracy work, and some have even gone so far as to redefined themselves as multiliteracy centers. However, writing centers that take on this work will find process theory, which has dominated writing consulting since the 1970s, inadequate for the task. A study of the history of the higher- and lower-order concern prioritizing strategy demonstrates the shortcomings of process pedagogy-based tenets of writing center practice. They represent historical vestiges of the field’s struggle for disciplinary legitimacy rather than a response to exigencies of composing. Teaching multiliteracies instead demands a rhetoric-based approach. This project explores what such an approach would mean for the writer/consultant interaction, consulting staffs, the writing center’s institutional identity, and centers' role in the public sphere. I redefine the role of writing consultant as rhetoric consultant and propose a writing/multiliteracy center-specific pedagogy of multimodal design. The focus then turns to finding definitions of centers that can shape their evolving identities and construct multiliteracy work as integral rather than an add-on. Drawing upon Kenneth Burke’s frames of acceptance, I examine the limitations of the field’s defining mythologies and propose a way forward in identity formation, shaping definitions of writing/multiliteracy centers that are at once stable and flexible. Finally, this project argues for a fresh interpretation of the center’s core identity as a democratizing force. John Dewey's definition of publics helps to define the field's democratizing mission as a project of extending access to education to diverse groups of people. Projected growth in the number and diversity of higher education enrollments offers writing/multiliteracy centers important opportunities to shepherd underrepresented groups through college. However, a more ambitious democratizing mission stands within reach: the changing landscape of composing challenges centers to support composers who want to take active roles in the public sphere. This project proposes pedagogical shifts that make public work possible. / text

Higher education is at a crossroads. In the U.S. especially, the question of what role education should play in greater society continues to come up. Should education be about fundamentally developing the predispositions or skills of an individual so that he or she can be a more effective citizen later in life? Or should education merely function as a box to check off, a kind of rite of passage that, regardless of quality or content, is required of an individual on the way to becoming part of some “real world?” These issues are quickly moving to the forefront for students and scholars alike; no longer relegated behind closed doors at faculty meetings, these issues are coming to define the very institutions that question them. It is the goal of this thesis, then, to address these shifting goals for, and horizons of, education through a rhetorical lens. From this perspective, education functions as the text under consideration. Rhetoric as it is understood for the majority of this project can be seen in the social interactions that take place, typically between the individual student and his or her educational environment. The core theme that runs throughout this thesis is that learning is not something that solely takes place through formal education, nor is it about acquiring mere common sense; rather, it is a natural extension of human curiosity to wonder about and explore the world of which we are all a part. It is the responsibility of schools and universities alike to facilitate students in developing who they are as a part of this bigger picture. To this end, I introduce the term “inhabited learning.” Inhabited learning elaborates on why one’s learning experience in formal education is still so important: In an age of information we all need some way of making sense of the myriad facts and figures we encounter in our everyday lives, with the hope of being able to make better sense of ourselves in the process. / text

While there have been numerous studies regarding television and its influence on modern life conducted in the past sixty years, there has not yet been a critique of television grounded in the work of John Dewey. John Dewey died when television was still a new technology; however, I believe that Dewey would have been critical of television had he lived to further experience it. One need only look to Dewey’s writings regarding mass communication and media to see that he was critical of how communication technologies influence human society. Television programming is nearly ubiquitous today and it requires ongoing inquiry as its influence is widespread and continues to grow. This dissertation extends television studies by developing a Deweyan critique of the medium. I assert in this dissertation that Dewey’s philosophy, especially his notions of experience, knowledge, and democracy can inform a current critique of television.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) has existed since the early 1500’s and research points to it being a successful pedagogy, so why do so few educators use it? One reason may be the confusion found in the literature encountered by educators. In light of this confusion, how teachers defined and implemented IBL in diverse, 21st Century classrooms was investigated. Looking at whether IBL was, or could be, an inclusive practice was also researched. Furthermore, the possibility that inquiry-based learning (IBL) encompassed differentiated instruction (DI) in its implementation and could therefore be used as a process to incorporate both was explored. To investigate these ideas, current literature was reviewed; including the works of John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky, and a qualitative research project was conducted using a phenomenological method. The research consisted of observations and interviews in the natural setting, of an inclusive elementary classroom.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) has existed since the early 1500’s and research points to it being a successful pedagogy, so why do so few educators use it? One reason may be the confusion found in the literature encountered by educators. In light of this confusion, how teachers defined and implemented IBL in diverse, 21st Century classrooms was investigated. Looking at whether IBL was, or could be, an inclusive practice was also researched. Furthermore, the possibility that inquiry-based learning (IBL) encompassed differentiated instruction (DI) in its implementation and could therefore be used as a process to incorporate both was explored. To investigate these ideas, current literature was reviewed; including the works of John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky, and a qualitative research project was conducted using a phenomenological method. The research consisted of observations and interviews in the natural setting, of an inclusive elementary classroom.

The argument of this dissertation is that the full and continued importance of evolution to the foundations and practice of American philosophy has not been fully recognized. The years surrounding the first appearance of the theory of evolution on American shores were full of scientific uncertainty and philosophical excitement. William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, and John Dewey responded to this uncertainty and excitement with a unique interpretation of evolution that recognized the deeply constructive and interactive nature of all living beings. This living idea of evolution fed back into many aspects of their mature philosophies. The early historians and commentators of this period, such as Herbert W. Schneider, and Phillip P. Wiener, whatever their view of evolution, did not fully understand the change that had just taken place in philosophy and biological science. They missed the radical change in the causal structure of science and philosophy implied by evolutionary philosophy. Later commentators on this period, with a few notable exceptions, have continued this trend. This has contributed to a disconnect of James, Peirce, and Dewey from the larger narrative of evolutionary philosophy. In this dissertation I reconnect James, Peirce, and Dewey to this larger historical narrative. I show how the narrative they began is still vitally important to our understanding of American philosophy and the philosophy of evolution.

This dissertation will use the philosophy of John Dewey to develop a conception of the individual using an ecological model as an alternative to the atomistic type more typical of Western philosophy. An ecological model presents the individual as part of a biological and cultural milieu, but, contrary to a number of critiques of the Deweyan individual, it does not subsume the individual beneath the larger processes of which it is a part or sacrifice the individual to the social institutions such as the state. The Introduction and Chapter One provide an overview of various critiques of Dewey's understanding of the individual before arguing that the Deweyan individual is best understood in ecological terms. This first section also argues in favor of Dewey's current relevance, as his philosophy provides a number of resources for addressing contemporary social problems. Chapter Two briefly examines the claim that there are possible absolutist tendencies in Dewey's thought before discussing the threat of absolutism, examining absolutist practices as types of monocultures, and arguing that far from supporting such tendencies, a Deweyan ecological individualism works against such practices. Chapter Three examines some of the implications of using an ecological model for the individual, shows that such an understanding of the individual drives home the precariousness of existence, and argues that this model thus provides the basis for a Deweyan existentialism. While Chapter Three emphasizes the ways in which our interdependence highlights the dangers that individuals face, Chapter Four responds to these worrisome implications by arguing in favor of a Deweyan art of living that builds upon our social and biological interrelatedness with a Deweyan care ethics that responds not only to our status as ecologically integrated entities with responsibilities to our social and biological communities, but that also emphasizes our need for self-care. The final chapter examines the ecological individual and moral community through the lens of a Deweyan radical democracy that emphasizes the need for ecological literacy, citizen engagement, a knowledgeable respect for our diverse heritage, and a willingness to work together continually to change our institutions and our practices toward democratic ideals.

In Traditional Navajo Sandpainting and John Dewey's Concept of An Experience I argue that the traditional Navajo sandpainting ceremony and John Dewey's concept of an experience mutually inform each other. By looking at traditional Navajo sandpaintings one can understand the type of experience Dewey is talking about when he talks about an experience. By looking at Dewey's concept of an experience one can understand the kind of experience the Navajo have when they participate in the sandpainting ceremonies. These experiences are deeply embedded in the foundation and meaning of life. Dewey argues that art and life are not separate. The traditional Navajo sandpaintings illustrate this. Life and the aesthetic are interwoven and connected. Beauty is part of our everyday lives and fills it with meaning.

The early twentieth century witnessed the emergence of "objective relativism," a distinctly American school of metaphysical realism inspired by the works of John Dewey and A.N. Whitehead. Largely forgotten, objective relativism provided a metaphysical framework, based upon an ontology of events and relations rather than substances and discrete properties, that has continued relevance for contemporary metaphysical discussions. In this thesis, I attempt to chart the boundaries and pathways of this ontology, outlining what Dewey calls the "ground-map of the province of criticism." In particular, the ground-map of objective relativism is invoked to situate and analyze the model of psycho-physical emergence outlined in Dewey's Experience and Nature. Because it is a relational ontology, objective relativism avoids problems with emergence common to substantival models. Additional analyses of its ontological premises, both in Dewey's writings and elsewhere, demonstrate how compelling accounts of causation, consciousness, and meaning may be formulated within this model.

Authoritarianism is on the rise across the world and intriguingly in the United States, known as the democratic laboratory. Political theorists and activists inquire into this contradictory political phenomenon in the United States, but their inquiries are fruitless. This dissertation finds that they uncritically conceive democracy as a mechanism of governance. As such, this narrow conception hampers their intelligence for political inquiries into the surge of authoritarianism in America. This dissertation discusses why and how the current political phenomenon occurs and suggests a moral method to pursue the quest for democratic values. This method allows inquirers to successfully address the crisis of democracy. This dissertation appeals to John Dewey’s vision of deliberative democracy, comparing and contrasting it with Alasdair MacIntyre’s communitarianism-oriented political theory. It finds that just as the Deweyan democratic vision does, MacIntyre’s political vision of democracy, too, emphasizes citizens’ participation in the political activities of decision-making and policy formulation. For MacIntyre, deliberative and participatory citizens are engaged in small group meetings to resolve their social and political issues. However, his communitarian method falls short of inspiring inquirers who wish to establish meaningful hypotheses to overcome the crisis of democracy: the idea of value plurality that is deemed essential for the political hypotheses is negated to a substantial degree by Thomist humanism held in his later works. MacIntyre’s skeptical attitude toward the methodology of democracy fundamentally based on liberalism and empirical naturalism inhibits political inquiries to discover and apply methods required to resolve the existing political situation in the U.S. By contrast, Dewey provides an appropriate array of philosophical ideas concerning deliberative democracy based on cooperative intelligence for political inquirers. With Dewey’s thought-provoking philosophical ideas, they are prepared to address their recently revived interest in authoritarianism in politics. They open a path towards a way of life that promotes authentic participation and deliberation in public affairs to tackle complex policy issues and bring out human flourishing. On this moral and social path, people demolish authoritarianism. Democratic hope is no longer an unattainable dream.