Rachael Dziechciarz
Research Paper Proposal
March 3, 2008
The general topic area that I will be working on is Pragmatism and social/political progressive movements. More specifically, I will focus on pragmatism and democracy. I am going to do this using option one.
The pragmatist position on democracy is that it is a process of experiences that the people within the democratic society are constancy learning. Democracy is a process, like learning and education, which has no end in sight. It is the way community goes about the learning process collectively. Also, democracy is one of the tools that is necessary in order for the “Great Community” to be achieved.
The pragmatists use the experiences of democracy that have been learned to continue the quest for better experiences. I think that the pragmatists want to find an objective way to practice democracy, which will lead to a society where individual and social goals are achieved simultaneously. One of the issues with democracy is that the people that have decision-making power are not as objective as they should be, and this leads them to use democracy as a way to achieve their political ends. As stated earlier, democracy never has an end, and should be viewed as a combination of experiences that should be continuously called into question.
Democracy doesn’t have to an abstract ideal, but can be implemented in such a way as to bring about true communication among people in the same society. When people learn to communicate with one another effectively, selfish interests become shared interests too, which creates a win-win situation for everyone involved. Furthermore, I would like to claim that the closer society gets to true democracy across the world, using the pragmatic method, the more chance there will be for stability and peace to reign over destruction and war.
Right now, I know that I will be using many ideas that came from John Dewey. This is because he developed clear ideas about how pragmatism fits in with the concept of democracy. I will definitely use his “Search for The Great Community,” and probably also “The Need for a Recovery of Philosophy.” Another pragmatist thinker that I will incorporate into my paper is Ralph Waldo Emerson. I think that his article titled “Self-Reliance” has many ideas about how a society should act. I think Dewey may have taken some ideas from Emerson’s work, although I will admit that Emerson has some extreme views that I won’t include to support my topic.
Top 10 titles that concern my topic area:
(1) Democratic hope: pragmatism and the politics of truth by Robert B. Westbrook (BOOK)
(2) Democracy and the claims of nature: critical perspectives for a new century by Ben A. Minteer (BOOK)
(3) Pragmatic moral realism: a transcendental defense by Sami Pihlstrom (ELECTRONIC RESOURCE)
(4) Judging under uncertainty: an institutional theory of legal interpretation by Adrian Vermeule (BOOK)
(5) Public Administration as Pragmatic, Democratic, and Objective by David L. Hildebrand (JOURNAL ARTICLE)**(I’m definitely going to use this one!)
(6) Rediscovering the Taproot: Is Classical Pragmatism the Route to Renew Public Administration? by Patricia M. Shields (JOURNAL ARTICLE)
(7) Dangerous Supplements, Inventive Dissent, and Military Critiques of the Bush Administration’s Unitary Executive Theories by Marouf Hasian Jr. (JOURNAL ARTICLE)
(8) Principle vs. Pragmatism: Policy Shifts and Political Competition by M. Tavits (JOURNAL ARTICLE)
(9) The Challenge of Pragmatism for Constructivism: Some Perspectives in the Programme of Cologne Constructivism by Stefan Neubert and Kersten Reich (JOURNAL ARTICLE)
(10) Democracy After Liberalism: Pragmatism and Deliberative Politics by Michael J. McGandy (BOOK)
Monday, March 3, 2008
Chaz and Andrews Project Proposal
The topic which our project is centered on is Pragmatism and the environment applied to our hiking trip we will be conducting this spring break. We will be focusing on Dewey's approach to self in relation to the environment when separated from Dewey's notion of the “great community”. By placing ourselves outside of our community we will explore how this alters our perception of self through the environment, or “nature”. By applying pragmatism to our project our goals are two-fold. First we will take a hands on approach to the pragmatist theory or pragmatist view on self by placing ourselves in an environment beyond our normal routine. Second we will be exploring pragmatists views on conservation and sustainable developments based on observations during our journey and readings of Dewey and Bill Belleville's book Losing It All to Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape.
We will be challenging the Pragmatist idea that self is intrinsically connected to one's community. Dewey states that “nature's place in man is no less significant than man's place in nature,” thus to explore this idea we want to change our place in nature expecting to see nature change place in ourselves so to speak. While Chaz agrees with Dewey's belief that the self is connected with the environment or nature, and Andrew feels that the self is a choice undetermined by the immediate surroundings. The discourse on this matter during our trip will be the basis for the project and how we come to discern our positions. Emerson's ideas of nature will also be incorporated to distinguish Dewey's ideas and how they relate to his and our own.
The sources of reading we will be using for our research are both the Emerson and Dewey passages from Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy as well as Bill Belleville's book. I think also Stuhr's Pragmatism, Postmodernism, and the Future of Philosophy could apply in some manner upon further investigation.
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