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.