I offer an interpretive reconstruction of John Dewey’s naturalistic metaphysics. I explore the function and interrelation of a number of terms that are central to Dewey’s metaphysics, including “nature,” “continuity,” “generic traits of existence,” the “qualitative,” “experience,” and “emergence.” In place of a strictly “pluralistic” idea of nature, I suggest that a Deweyan model provides the basis for understanding nature as a continuous whole. The generic traits of existence are the most general ontological features of nature; they are operative in all that exists, but manifest in unique ways within every particular existence. Because all things share these traits, they can be understood as the ground for naturalistic continuity, for how all existences are capable of interacting within a common world. Generic traits are best understood as the underlying patterns or rhythms of nature, patterns that are “tensional” or oppositional. I propose that “tension” is at the heart of any productive process. Through characterizing generic traits in this way, I link them to an emergent theory of generation. Thus, the generic traits of existence are the common grounds for particular existences, relations among existences, and the generation of new existences and relations. Experience is a broad term, but Dewey provides the basis for differentiating among types of experience in accordance with their functionalities, as well as their contextual “size” or “scope.” We can discuss Deweyan experience as an integrated series of emergent contexts or fields that include what he terms, in order of diminishing size, culture, mind, subconscious, consciousness, and cognitive thought. This emergent scheme shows why culture is a directive field of experience, and that cognitive or reflective thought is only a small portion of our experiential process. Through reflecting upon the nature of various experiential contexts, through treating these contexts as our empirical data, we can engage in what Dewey terms “metaphysical inquiry.” If knowledge itself is understood within a broader experiential context, the ways in which knowledge integrates into experience, the “forms” of our meanings, can tell us a great deal about basic features of existence.

John Dewey’s “Art As Experience” represents an unprecedented aesthetic theory insofar as it provides the reader with a way to think of aesthetic experience, not as relegated to a specialized realm of activity that one might denote as “the art world,” but as the primary mode through which human beings come to terms with the environment. This is one aspect of Dewey’s “cultural naturalism,” through which we can see how his philosophy intends a non-separation between the body, the mind, and the environment. This project aims to reveal the notion of the unconscious that is implicit within Dewey’s later work, particularly his aesthetics and metaphysics. This is a uniquely American unconscious with properties and functions that differ from the unconscious that was articulated by the tradition of psychoanalysis in Europe. I also make the pragmatic argument that when we treat the aesthetic and the unconscious as essentially linked, we benefit from a stronger hermeneutic for diagnosing culture, and we are better prepared to restore our connection with sensuous, immediate experience. This dual rehabilitation of the aesthetic and the unconscious serves to strengthen our capacity for eros, which, I will argue, is the need to live a shared aesthetic reality.

Agency and desire are interdependent. Agency is not a given, but an achievement of ordered desiring. We want to control our desires rather than be controlled by them, but the dilemma is that our selves are separate neither from our desires nor our control. John Dewey articulates this dynamic and proposes a solution; we can control desire and thereby ourselves by an immanent and reflective reconstruction of the meaning and object of desire. However, Dewey over-estimates the cognitive control of meaning and desire, because he presumes that desire is always ideational, rather than explaining how desire comes into cognitive awareness and control to be available for reflective manipulation. This work will extend Dewey's theory of experience and habit by explaining the structural habitual conditions necessary for the cognitive control of desire, e.g., how desire becomes ideational and subsequently an ideal. It offers a constructive criticism and a new heterodox phenomenological method based on the works of John Dewey, Thomas Alexander, and Victor Kestenbaum.

This dissertation carries out a systematic study of the religious thought of the 20th century American philosopher John Dewey. Its motivation is that Dewey’s religious views have been seriously misunderstood and under appreciated by philosophers and Dewey scholars to date. Breaking with the standard interpretation of Dewey as a thoroughly scientific and secular thinker, the dissertation shows that Dewey’s writings reveal a robust and highly original religious naturalism. It further demonstrates that Dewey’s novel understanding of the religious dimensions of nature and the experiencing self can capably meet the challenges posed to philosophy of religion by the ecological turn presently transforming the philosophical landscape. The driving insight of the ecological turn in contemporary philosophy is the need to reconstruct our basic philosophical concepts and principles in light of the results of the ecological sciences, many of which challenge core tenets of modern Western thought. To make the case for Dewey as a serious religious thinker, the dissertation places him into critical-constructive dialogue with other theorists representing a wide range of philosophical and scientific perspectives, including those of pragmatism, naturalism, ecological and Gestalt psychology, deep ecology, and recent cognitive science. Dewey’s religious views are also analyzed in relation to the self-cultivation doctrines of Daoism and Zen Buddhism, highlighting rich connections between Dewey and Eastern thought; all of these thinkers and schools of thought share Dewey’s overriding concern to restore continuity between facts and values, between knowledge and action, between nature and the full range of human experience. The dissertation shows that by recovering Dewey’s religious naturalism, full of ecological insight and relevance, a new paradigm for philosophy of religion can be discerned, one that promises to bring philosophy of religion’s core problems and methods in line with the most up-to-date scientific developments.

[pt] O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar a democracia no pensamento do pragmatista estadunidense John Dewey (1859-1952) e sua contribuição para a teoria política contemporânea. Num primeiro momento, se examina o pensamento político do autor, ressaltando-se as implicações que o antifundacionismo e o contextualismo sugerem. Já o confronto do pensamento de Dewey com críticas de Richard Rorty, Richard Bernstein, Robert Westbrook e Alfonso Damico sugere que, ao mesmo tempo em que o vocabulário do estadunidense é refém de imperativos de sua época, deixa grande contribuição para a teoria contemporânea; a de que a democracia é o modelo político que permite a geração de novas formas de vida e sua permanentemente recriação, a partir do contínuo confronto com a prática, de forma a mapear trajetórias para que desejos e aspirações da sociedade sejam concretizados. / [en] This dissertation aims to study the thought of the American pragmatist John Dewey (1859-1952) on democracy and its contribution to the contemporary political theory. At first, the political thought of the author is analyzed, and the anti-foundationalism’s and contextualism’s repercussions are highlighted. The tension between Dewey’s thoughts and the ideas of Richard Rorty, Richard Bernstein, Robert Westbrook and Alfonso Damico suggest that, if in the one hand Dewey’s vocabulary is a victim of his own time, it brings a great contribution to contemporary theory. This contribution is expressed though the idea that democracy is the political model that allows the creation of forms of life and their permanent recreation, from the clash between theory and practice, aiming at the designing of trajectories that will give life to the desires and aspirations of society.

Um ensino de ciências voltado para a cidadania demanda práticas de sala de aula que promovam o desenvolvimento de competências, como a argumentação, condição de emancipação. A escola contribuirá para o desenvolvimento de jovens com capacidade de avaliação crítica, ao permitir-lhes tomar posição de forma democrática, responsável e, quando for o caso, cientificamente sustentada. Uma convicção que funda a presente dissertação é a idéia de que as práticas de trabalho colaborativo, envolvendo a interação entre os alunos através do diálogo em sala de aula contribuirão para o desenvolvimento dessas competências. Uma apreciação crítica da educação, vivida numa trajetória pessoal de professor em um curso pré-universitário, deu origem a um questionamento pessoal que encontrou eco em distintos referenciais teóricos. Alguns desses referenciais já são históricos, como os de John Dewey e Anísio Teixeira, que conceituaram uma visão de educação democrática, outros mais recentes, como o da educação dialógica e participativa de Paulo Freire ou da educação para o desenvolvimento de competências, como a proposta por Philippe Perrenoud. Essa visão múltipla, que poderia ser caracterizada como ecumênica, qualifica um cenário escolar desejável para a formação cientifica emancipadora. Tendo esse cenário como perspectiva, mostra-se então como o aprendizado da Física pode ser conduzido no ensino médio, de forma participativa e dialógica em ambiente democrático, e sem prejuízo da igualmente desejável formação conceitual e prática nos conteúdos científicos e tecnológicos.Parte significativa desse trabalho foi conduzida em aulas de Física do primeiro ano do ensino médio em uma cooperativa educacional, procurando, através de implementação de práticas pedagógicas orientadas pelos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, PCN, compreender a realidade complexa e dinâmica das interações sociais em sala de aula. Os dados foram tomados na forma de registros em um diário de observações, inclusive de interações entre alunos, assim como da análise de trabalhos desenvolvidos por eles, na forma de textos escritos. Uma análise qualitativa permitiu avaliar tais competências, vendo que, numa fase inicial, a capacidade de argumentação estava pouco desenvolvida; que as interações em sala de aula contribuíram para seu desenvolvimento; e que níveis inicialmente muito diversificados foram melhorando e se aproximando gradativamente em função dessas atividades de discussão. / When science teaching is seen as preparation for citizenship it is essential to promote classroom practices able to develop competences, as the one to face arguments, a condition to personal emancipation. School will contribute to the development of young people, capable of critical evaluations by means of the analysis of different points of view, when it allow them to take stand and situate themselves, in a democratic and responsible way, as well as, when it is the case, with scientific bases. A starting point of this dissertation is the idea that practices of collaborative work, involving the interaction among students in classroom dialogues contribute to develop that competences. A critical perception of the traditional education, experienced in a teacher trajectory in courses of preparation to access higher education gave place to a personal questioning that found echo in different theoretical references. Some of these references are already historical, as is the case of John Dewey and Anísio Teixeira, who conceived a vision of democratic education, other more recent as the dialogical and participative education of Paulo Freire, or as the education to the development of competences proposed by Philippe Perrenoud. This multiple view, that could be metaphorically considered ecumenical, qualifies the school scenery desirable for the sake of an education aiming emancipation. With this scenery as a perspective to be made real, it is then shown how physics learning can be conducted in a dialogical and participative way, without losses in the equally desired conceptual and practical formation in the scientific and technological contents. An important part of this work has been conducted in first year physics classes at an upper secondary school of a local community, trying to understand the complex and dynamical reality of social interactions in classrooms trough the application of pedagogical practices oriented by the Curricular National Parameters (PCN). The data were taken in a diary of classroom observations, even of classroom interactions between students, as well as from the analysis of works made by them in the form of written texts. A qualitative analysis allow the evaluation of such competences, producing a perception that, initially, the ability to face arguments were low developed, that the classroom interactions contributed to the development them, and that levels initially quite diverse, became gradually improved and similar, as a result of these activities.

A educação dita tradicional, que só exige um trabalho de memorização de um conteúdo rígido e fixo, procura formar indivíduos para que se adaptem à sociedade em que vivem. Dessa forma, essas metodologias pedagógicas são conservadoras, ou seja, esperam que o sujeito adquira passivamente o conhecimento dessa sociedade e encontre o seu lugar social, modificando a si mesmo para conformar-se ao modus vivendi, porém sem alterar ou modificar em nada essa sociedade em que habita. O pressuposto latente nesse modo de pensar é a aceitação passiva da sociedade e a consideração de que nenhuma mudança é bem-vinda. John Dewey discorda dessa postura conservadora da educação e da sociedade humana como um todo e propõe uma filosofia da educação que seja crítica com ela mesma e com o mundo que nos cerca e, assim, possua capacidades reconstrutivas. O objetivo dessa filosofia é sua aplicação na formação de um ser humano, de modo a oferecer condições que o possibilitem criticar e reconstruir a sociedade em que deseja viver. Desse modo, para que seja possível esse novo estilo de vida, Dewey propõe um sistema filosófico que não seja um modelo fechado e eterno, mas orientações gerais que possibilitem a reconstrução contínua da sociedade. / The so-called traditional education requires only memorization of a rigid and fixed content, seeking ways for individuals to adapt to the society in which they live. The teaching methods are conservative, ie, they expect that subject acquires passively knowledge of the society and find his social location, modifying himself to \"conform\" to the modus vivendi, but without changing or modifing anything in this society where he lives. The basic assumption of this way of thinking is the passive acceptance that in the society change is not welcome. John Dewey disagree this conservative approach of education and human society as a whole and proposes a philosophy of education that is critical of itself and of the world around us and thus has reconstructive capabilities. The goal of this philosophy is its application in the formation of a human being in order to provide conditions that enable him to criticize and reconstruct a society in which he wans to live. To reach this new lifestyle, Dewey proposes a philosophical system which is not a closed eternal model, but general guidelines that facilitate the continuous reconstruction of the society.

O ponto de partida da presente pesquisa foi a constatação de que o tema natureza humana constitui uma das bases fundamentais do pensamento do filósofo e educador John Dewey (EUA, 18591952), abrangendo suas elaborações no campo estrito da filosofia, bem como nos terrenos da psicologia, da política e da educação. Para o autor, é imprescindível dar tratamento científico à noção de natureza humana, mediante uma perspectiva que considere o homem um ser coletivo. Nessa formulação, surge como problema a necessidade de uma ciência social formada por saberes diretamente voltados ao entendimento da experiência humana no âmbito da cultura; destaca-se também a relevância das investigações desenvolvidas na área da psicologia, uma vez que tal ciência, para Dewey, é essencial para o pensar filosófico, pois se ocupa das manifestações particulares que permitem compreender o homem em sua totalidade. A pesquisa realizada teve por objetivo compreender a noção deweyana de natureza humana, analisando, para isso, a obra Human nature and conduct: an introduction to Social Psychology, de 1922. A metodologia de análise deste trabalho seguiu os estudos desenvolvidos pelo Grupo de Pesquisa Retórica e Argumentação na Pedagogia, que focaliza as teorias da argumentação elaboradas por autores como Perelman e Toulmin. Tal método qualitativo de análise permitiu o exame do discurso de Dewey sobre a natureza humana e a conduta, possibilitando, conseqüentemente, reflexões sobre as manifestações do filósofo acerca do psiquismo, do trabalho inteligente da mente e da comunicação associada como meio de formar e educar o homem. Vimos que o discurso deweyano identifica-se com a filosofia prática, pois se destina a elaborar propostas de ação, culminando com a proposição de uma ciência para estudar e transformar o homem. Os resultados da pesquisa realizada permitiram, também, obter uma compreensão das interlocuções de John Dewey com a comunidade de ouvintes/leitores de suas teses, bem como a relação do autor com as várias tradições filosóficas e psicológicas, cujas noções são aceitas ou refutadas a fim de conduzir o auditório a novos acordos. / The starting point of the present research was the verification that the theme \"human nature\" constitutes one of the fundamental bases of the thought of the philosopher and educator John Dewey (USA, 1859-1952), including his elaborations in the strict field of philosophy, as well as in the lands of psychology, politics and education. To the author it is indispensable to give a scientific treatment to the notion of human nature, through a perspective that considers the man a collective being. In this formulation, it appears as a problem the need of a social science formed by knowings directly inclined to the understanding of human experience in cultures extent; it also stands out the relevance of the investigations developed in psychological area, once for Dewey, psychology as a science is essential for the philosophical thinking because it studies those private manifestations that allow us to understand the man in his totality. The accomplished research aimed to understand the Deweyan notion of human nature analyzing, for that, the book Human nature and conduct: an introduction Social to Psychology, 1922. The methodology of analysis of this work followed the studies developed in the Research Group \"Rhetoric and Argumentation in Pedagogy\", which focuses its attention to the argumentations theories elaborated by authors as Perelman and Toulmin. Such a qualitative method of analysis allowed us to exam Deweys speech about human nature and conduct, making possible, consequently, reflections about his manifestations concerning the psyche, the intelligent work of the mind and associated communication as a way to form and educate the man. We saw that deweyan speech identifies itself with practical philosophy, as it is destined to elaborate proposals of action culminating with the proposition of a science to study and transform the man. The results of the accomplished research also allowed us to obtain an understanding of John Dewey\'s dialogues with the community of listeners/readers of his thesis, as well as this author\'s relationship with the several philosophical and psychological traditions, whose notions are accepted or refuted in order to drive the auditorium to new agreements.

<p>Uppsatsen handlar om pedagogiska spel i skolundervisningen. Författarna har konstruerat och provspelat ett pedagogiskt spel kallat ”Norden runt” i två skolor i Stockholmsområdet. I uppsatsen redovisas resultaten av undersökningen samt förs en diskussion kring pedagogiska spel och hur de kan användas i skolan.</p> / <p>The subject of this thesis is the pedagogic game in education. The researchers have created and developed a pedagogic game called “Nordic tour”, and tested the game in two schools in</p><p>Haninge and Sollentuna. The result of the test, the game and a discussion of the pedagogic game and how they can be used in education is presented in this thesis.</p>

Uppsatsen handlar om pedagogiska spel i skolundervisningen. Författarna har konstruerat och provspelat ett pedagogiskt spel kallat ”Norden runt” i två skolor i Stockholmsområdet. I uppsatsen redovisas resultaten av undersökningen samt förs en diskussion kring pedagogiska spel och hur de kan användas i skolan. / The subject of this thesis is the pedagogic game in education. The researchers have created and developed a pedagogic game called “Nordic tour”, and tested the game in two schools in Haninge and Sollentuna. The result of the test, the game and a discussion of the pedagogic game and how they can be used in education is presented in this thesis.