Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1916. / "The following study ... is little more than a critical review of Professor Dewey's writings in their historical order."--P. iii.

Thesis--Columbia University. / Includes bibliographical references and selected bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1955. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-210).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1934. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-129).

Diss. ad doctoratum--Facultas philosophiae--Romae--Pontifica universitas urbaniana, 1991. / Bibliogr. p. 149-189.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-232). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

This thesis is a reading of the role of the individual in the social philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Dewey. It seeks to reconstruct both philosophers as putting forth a philosophy of social individualism by putting the two in conversation with one another through the method of Hegelian dialectic. The line of influence from Emerson to Dewey is touched upon, and some time is spent comparing the two scholars in terms of how their philosophies are unique reactions to their experience of America and as Americans. A large part of the thesis is spent in defense of Emerson from contemporary readings that are found to not fully address the complexity of the philosopher, especially how he was reacting to his particular cultural situation.

This work explores the possibility of constructing a metaphor in order to facilitate communication. The problem was addressed was denoted by Stephen Rockefeller, a misunderstanding of John Dewey’s religious philosophy by fundamentalists. The point of departure is one which Dewey himself suggested in his eulogy for William James. This work explores the reasons and causes for the misunderstanding as well as methods of possible amelioration. The proposed means of overcoming the aforementioned misunderstanding is to construct a metaphor that will have the effect of communicating the position of the pragmatist to that of the fundamentalist. In order to do this a previously existing metaphor, that of the pragmatic hotel, will be reconstructed into the pragmatic church. The resulting metaphor connotes a position that is more acceptable to the fundamentalist thus facilitating communication.

In this dissertation, I propose that a Deweyan ethic—supplemented by Care ethics and ecofeminism can better evaluate, enhance, and nurture human/nonhuman animal relationships. While Peter Singer’s utilitarianism and Tom Regan’s deontology are considered the dominant ethical theories in the field of animal ethics, they cannot fully attend to the complexities of human/nonhuman animal relationships. Some of the shortcomings of Singer’s and Regan’s theories explored in this dissertation are the absence of context, the dichotomization of reason/emotion and human/animal, the calculative sterility of moral deliberation, and the problematic language of ‘rights.’ Further, I propose that a supplemented Deweyan ethic might be fruitfully applied to two canine-training programs in prisons: Paws in Prisons (PIP) and A Dog On Prison Turf (ADOPT). I use the work of Angela Davis and Bénédicte Boisseron on prisons to explore how a Deweyan ethic might be better equipped to evaluate and enhance these relationships, given their location. To fully appreciate the capacity of a Deweyan ethic in human/nonhuman animal relationships, one must wrestle with the messiness of the program’s location while at the same time acknowledge that despite the fact that they are in prison, something meaningful happens here between human/nonhuman animals. In the Deweyan spirit, I test this hypothesis by interviewing participants in these programs and use those qualitative aspects as feedback for my initial hypotheses.