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Center for Dewey Studies
@deweycenter.siu.edu
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The Center for Dewey Studies is the home of research, publishing, and archival materials that focus on the life, work, and legacy of John Dewey.
Director: https://bsky.app/profile/thehangedman.com
Website: https://deweycenter.siu.edu/
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deweycenter.siu.edu
“Pragmatism thus has a metaphysical implication. The doctrine of the value of consequences leads us to take the future into consideration. And this taking into consideration of the future takes us to the conception of a universe whose evolution is not finished, of a universe which is...
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February 6, 2026 at 5:08 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“In order to restore democracy, one thing and one thing only is essential. The people will rule when they have power, and they will have power in the degree they own and control the land, banks, the producing and distributing agencies...
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February 4, 2026 at 4:12 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“[There is an] inevitable effect of the war-system in the first place in creating a professional group seated in high and influential positions who identify militarism with loyalty to the country; and secondly of...
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February 2, 2026 at 4:18 PM
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Now on YouTube! See Joseph Smith’s lunchtime talk, “On the Black Hand Side: Cornel West and the Black Prophetic Critique of Pragmatism.”
Link to Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-beI...
Link to Center for Dewey Studies YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCeV...
Joseph L. Smith, "On the Black Hand Side: Cornel West and the Black Prophetic Critique of Pragmatism" Cornel West is one of the foremost Black public intellectuals to engage classical American pragmatism as exemplary of the democratic possibilities in American culture. West also insists on grounding his work in the Black prophetic tradition, portraying the two traditions as complementary resources for confronting Black suffering and deepening democracy. Yet such a framing risks obscuring profound tensions. When Black thought is positioned as an additive to pragmatism rather than taken on its own term, the radical demands of the Black prophetic tradition—demands that unsettle the very philosophical frames offered by American pragmatists—are muted. This talk reconsiders West’s critiques of classical pragmatism from the vantage point of the veil, demonstrating that a fuller reckoning with the incompatibilities between these traditions opens new possibilities for radical democratic thought. Dr. Joseph L. Smith is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies at SIU. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from SIU (2020), LL.M. in International Economic Law from Xiamen University (2021), and M.A. in Black Theology from Union Theological Seminary in NYC (2006). Smith's teaching and research interests include Black Male Studies, Africana Philosophy, Foucault Studies, Prison Studies, and the emergence of the Breton-Woods Institute, WTO, and Trade Agreements.
January 30, 2026 at 3:33 PM
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"[Because] of nationalistic religions and its rationalization, the test and mark of public spirit becomes intolerant disregard of all other nations. Patriotism degenerates into a hateful conviction of intrinsic superiority.... [The] Nation by which...
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January 28, 2026 at 4:35 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
Now on YouTube! See Steven Fesmire’s lunchtime talk, “Moral Fundamentalism, Stupid Decisions, and the Ends-Means Continuum.”

Link to Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=inc1...

Link to Center for Dewey Studies YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCeV...
Steven Fesmire, “Moral Fundamentalism, Stupid Decisions, and the Ends-Means Continuum.” Moral fundamentalists habitually act as if they have access to: (1) the exclusively right way to diagnose moral or political problems and (2) the single approvable practical solution to any particular problem. Building on the pragmatist tradition, I will argue that moral fundamentalism underwrites stupid decisions. In part, this is because it obstructs communication and constricts deliberation about what’s possible. But its implied methodology is even more worrisome, as it asks people to trust ends which are asserted autocratically. Instead of asking people to cooperatively trace varied consequences of the means being proposed, ends like liberty and justice are framed and understood as self-justifying finalities to be won at any price. Steven Fesmire is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Radford University. He is the author Beyond Moral Fundamentalism: Toward a Pragmatic Pluralism (Oxford University Press, 2024). He edited The Oxford Handbook of Dewey (Oxford University Press, 2023), and his books John Dewey and Moral Imagination (Indiana University Press, 2003) and Dewey (Routledge Press, 2015) won Choice “Outstanding Academic Title” awards. A 2009 Fulbright Scholar in Japan, Fesmire’s public philosophy work has appeared in places like Salon, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The Humanist.
January 26, 2026 at 7:36 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“[Public] spirit under the guise of patriotism has been turned increasingly into negative channels; it is used to stir up hostility against other countries and is a potent factor in causing wars... in many cases, it is becoming clear...
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January 23, 2026 at 8:19 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
Now on YouTube! See Matthew J. Brown’s lunchtime talk, “What is Pragmatist About the New ‘Pragmatist’ Philosophy of Science?”

Link to Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_KQ...

Link to Center for Dewey Studies YouTube Channel:
www.youtube.com/@DeweyCenter
Matthew J. Brown: "What is Pragmatist About the New 'Pragmatist' Philosophy of Science?" Philosophical pragmatism has been enjoying a renaissance in philosophy of science. Brown will bring this recent work into conversation with classical pragmatism to explore the question: What makes a philosophy of science pragmatist? The recent work is in some respects more faithful to the classical pragmatist tradition than earlier appropriations of i pragmatism, but it also differs in emphasis in ways that are problematic. Brown does not argue that there is some single, essential character of philosophical pragmatism, nor does he try to sort the “true pragmatists” from the pretenders. Rather, he attempts to articulate the value of the new pragmatist philosophy of science while also indicating valuable resources from the pragmatist tradition that have yet to receive their proper due, particularly concerning the interplay of science and values. Matthew J. Brown is the Jo Ann and Donald N. Boydston Chair of American Philosophy and Director of the Center for Dewey Studies at SIU. His research areas include the history of 19th and 20th century philosophy and the history and philosophy of science. He is the author of Science and Moral Imagination: A New Ideal for Values in Science (2020) and is currently editor-in-chief of HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science.
January 21, 2026 at 4:18 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“No matter how loudly any one proclaims his Americanism, if he assumes that any one racial strain, any one component culture... is to furnish a pattern to which all other strains and cultures are to conform, he is a traitor to an American nationalism. Our unity cannot be a...
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A photograph of John Dewey shaking hands with someone in front of an American Flag. Overlaid is text reading: “[Race] and color prejudice have never had such opportunity as they have now to poison the mind, while nationalism is elevated into a religion called patriotism.” Citation: “What I Believe: Living Philosophies–VII.” (1930, LW 5: 275).
January 19, 2026 at 4:49 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
Join us next Wednesday (Jan 21) at 8 am CT for the inaugural talk in the International Dewey Centers Colloquium Series at the Center for Dewey Studies! For those unable to attend in person, be sure to register in advance with the following link:
nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
The International Dewey Centers Network Presents a Joint Online Colloquim Series by Kenneth Stikkers titled "Max Scheler and John Dewey on Value and the Qualitative"
January 14, 2026 at 7:14 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
SIU Alums and friends of the Center Bethany Henning and Seth Vannatta have a new book coming out with Routledge: A Metaphysics for the Liberal Arts: Process, Quality, and Continuity. Explores what metaphysics can contribute to discussions of the value of a liberal arts education.
Cover image for the book described in this post.
December 27, 2025 at 7:04 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“Merely legal guarantees of the civil liberties of free belief, free expression, free assembly are of little avail if in daily life freedom of communication, the give and take of ideas, facts, experiences, is choked by mutual suspicion, by abuse, by fear and hatred....
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December 12, 2025 at 4:19 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“To denounce Naziism for intolerance, cruelty and stimulation of hatred amounts to fostering insincerity if, in our personal relations to other persons, if, in our daily walk and conversation, we are moved by racial, color or other class prejudice... The democratic faith in human equality... (1/2)
A photograph of John Dewey reading a book with overlaid text that says “Democracy is a way of personal life controlled not merely by faith in human nature in general but by faith in the capacity of human beings for intelligent judgment and action if proper conditions are furnished.” Citation: "Creative Democracy – The Task Before Us” (1939, LW 14: 227).
December 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“At the present time, the frontier is moral, not physical.... Unused resources are now human rather than material. They are found in the waste of grown men and women who are without the chance to work, and in the young men and young women who find doors closed where there was once opportunity.”(1/2)
A photograph of John Dewey's right profile.
December 8, 2025 at 5:35 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“An American democracy can serve the world only as it demonstrates in the conduct of its own life the efficacy of plural, partial, and experimental methods in securing and maintaining an ever-increasing...
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December 5, 2025 at 5:32 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“[The] social significance of academic freedom lies in the fact that without freedom of inquiry and freedom on the part of teachers and students to explore the forces at work in society and the means by which they may...
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December 3, 2025 at 6:53 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
Join us tomorrow for Dr. Ruta's talk, "Experience, Musical Understanding & Aesthetic Value" at 11 am in the Center for Dewey Studies (Morris Library Basement, Room 0044).
Text reading "Experience, Musical Understanding & Aesthetic Value" with photographs of John Dewey and Wilhelm Dilthey.
December 2, 2025 at 7:45 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“Under a régime of highly centralized finance and industry, the mass of individuals, who are subordinates, tend to become cogs in a vast machine whose workings they do not understand, and in whose management they have no part or lot....
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December 1, 2025 at 5:26 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“[The] lesson of history is that the forces which limit and restrict the life of individuals and thereby hinder freedom change with every great change in human relations. Consequently, freedom is...
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A photograph of John Dewey with a dark background. Overlaid is text reading, “The old saying that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’ has especial significance at the present time.” Citation: “Freedom.” (1937, LW 11: 247).
November 28, 2025 at 5:37 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“Society means association; coming together in joint intercourse and action for the better realization of any form of experience which is augmented and confirmed by being shared. Hence there are as many associations as...
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A photograph of John Dewey celebrating his birthday with his family.
November 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“Just as ‘individual’ is not one thing, but is a blanket term for the immense variety of specific reactions, habits, dispositions and powers of human nature that are evoked, and confirmed under the influences of associated life, so with the term ‘social.’ Society...
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November 24, 2025 at 5:34 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“To say that a man seeks health or justice is only to say that he seeks to live healthily or justly. These things, like truth, are adverbial. They are modifiers of action in special cases....
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November 21, 2025 at 7:10 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“A moral situation is one in which judgment and choice are required antecedently to overt action. The practical meaning of the situation—that is to say the action needed to satisfy it—is not self-evident....
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A photograph of John Dewey holding a baby
November 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
Join us tomorrow at noon for Dr. Harris's talk!
November 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
deweycenter.siu.edu
“To perceive this fact is to abolish rigid dogmas from the world. It is to recognize that conceptions, theories and systems of thought are always open to development through use. It is to enforce the lesson that we must be on the lookout quite as much for indications to...
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A photograph of John Dewey with overlaid text reading: “[Notions], theories, systems, no matter how elaborate and self-consistent they are, must be regarded as hypotheses. They are to be accepted as bases of actions which test them, not as finalities.” Citation: Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920, MW 12: 163).
November 17, 2025 at 6:21 PM