Pragmatism, Realism and Hermeneutics
Dewey and Familiarity as a Tool of Interpretation
Abstract
This paper aims to analyse the notion of familiarity in Dewey’s pragmatism in order to show its important role as a tool for human beings to interpret the reality, manage it, and act within it. Starting from an examination of Deweyan transactional realism, the discourse focuses on familiarity and its related terms (such as “familiar,” “to familiarize,” but also opposite such as “unknown” or “strange”) in Dewey’s thought, to finally come to highlight its fundamental hermeneutic role. This might be useful to account for a subject of Deweyan thought not so deeply highlighted by scholarship and, at the same time, to show pragmatism’s closeness to hermeneutics about the relation between human being and the real.
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References
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Godfrey-Smith, P. (2002), Dewey on Naturalism, Realism and Science. Philosophy of Science, 69 (S3), S25-S35.
Godfrey-Smith, P. (2013), Dewey and the Question of Realism. Noûs, 50 (1), 73-89.
Heidegger, M. (1927/1976), Essere e tempo. A cura di P. Chiodi. Milano: Longanesi.
Heidegger, M. (1975/1990), I problemi fondamentali della fenomenologia. A cura di F.-W. von Hermann, A. Fabris, C. Angelino. Genova: Il Melangolo.
Hildebrand, D. L. (2003), Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Koch, A. F. (2020), Il realismo ermeneutico e la leggibilità delle cose. Giornale di Metafisica, 42 (2), 340-352.
James, W. (1890/1950), The Principles of Psychology. New York: Dover.
James, W. (1905), The Essence of Humanism. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 2 (5), 113-118.
Mura, G. (2018), Ermeneutica e realismo. In M.C. Dalfino e R. Pozzo (eds.), Realismo, metafisica e modernità, Roma: ILIESI Cnr, 63-80.
Peirce, C.S. (1903/1965), Pragmatism and Pragmaticism. In C. Hartshorne and P. Weiss (eds.), Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, vol. 5. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 13-131.
Pihlström, S. (2007), The Realism Issue from a Deweyan Perspective. Americana, 3 (2). [Online] Available: http://americanaejournal.hu/vol3no2/philstrom (1/10/2022).
Ryan, X. F. (2022), Philosophers’ Problems: Transaction in Philosophy and Life. In J. Garrison, J. Öhman, L. Östman, Deweyan Transactionalism in Education. Beyond Self-action and Inter-action, London-New York: Bloomsbury, 17-37.
Ryan, X. F. (2011), Seeing Together: Mind, Matter, and the Experimental Outlook of John Dewey and Arthur F. Bentley. Great Barrington: The American Institute for Economic Research.
Saito, Y. (2017), Aesthetics of the familiar. Everyday Life and World-Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barrotta, P. (2020), Pragmatism and Transactional Realism. Philosophical Inquiries, 7 (2), 111-128.
Begby, E. (2015), Hermeneutics and Pragmatism. In J. Malpas and H.H. Gander (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Hermeneutics. London and New York: Routledge, 612-622.
Boyles, D. (2012), Dewey, Ecology, and Education: Historical and Contemporary Debates over Dewey’s Naturalism and (Transactional) Realism. Educational Theory, 62 (2), 143-161.
Busacchi V., Nieddu, A, Michel, J. (2022), Experience, Interpretation, and Meaning: A Dialogue between Hermeneutics and Pragmatism. The European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 14 (1). [Online] Available: https://journals.openedition.org/ejpap/2688.
Dewey, J. (1894/1971), The Theory of Emotion. (I) Emotional Attitudes. In J.A. Boydston and W.A.R. Leys (eds.), The Early Works 1882-1898, vol. 4. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (tr. it. La teoria delle emozioni. Le attitudini emotive. In AA.VV., Emozioni: da Darwin al pragmatismo. A cura di G. Baggio, F. Caruana, A. Parravicini, M. Viola, Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier 2020).
Dewey, J. (1899/1976), The School and Society. In J.A. Boydston and Joe R. Burnett (eds.), The Middle Works 1899-1924, vol. 1. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (tr. it. Scuola e società. A cura di E. Codignola e L. Borghi. Firenze: La Nuova Italia 1993).
Dewey, J. (1905), The Realism of Pragmatism. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 2 (12), 324-327.
Dewey, J. (1907/1977), The Control of Ideas by Facts. In J.A. Boydston and L. E. Hahn (eds.), The Middle Works 1899-1924, vol. 4. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press: 78-90 (tr. it. Il controllo delle idee attraverso i fatti. In J. Dewey, Logica sperimentale. Teoria naturalistica della conoscenza e del pensiero. A cura di R. Frega, Macerata: Quodlibet 2008).
Dewey, J. (1916/1980a), Democracy and Education. In J.A. Boydston and Sidney Hook (eds.), The Middle Works 1899-1924, vol. 9. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (tr. it. Democrazia e educazione. A cura di C. Sini, Firenze: Sansoni 2012).
Dewey, J. (1916/1980b), Logical Objects. In J.A. Boydston and L. E. Hahn (eds.), The Middle Works 1899-1924, vol. 10. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press: 89-97 (tr. it. Oggetti logici. In J. Dewey, Logica sperimentale. Teoria naturalistica della conoscenza e del pensiero. A cura di R. Frega, Macerata: Quodlibet 2008).
Dewey, J. (1916/1980c), Introduction to «Essays in Experimental Logic». In J.A. Boydston and L. E. Hahn (eds.), The Middle Works 1899-1924, vol. 10. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press: 320-365 (tr. it. Introduzione [ai Saggi di logica sperimentale]. In J. Dewey, Logica sperimentale. Teoria naturalistica della conoscenza e del pensiero. A cura di R. Frega, Macerata: Quodlibet 2008).
Dewey, J. (1925/1981) Experience and Nature. In J.A. Boydston and S. Hook (eds.), The Later Works 1925-1953, vol. 1. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (tr. it. Esperienza e natura. A cura di P. Bairati, Milano: Mursia 2014).
Dewey, J. (1933/1986), How We Think. In J.A. Boydston and R. Rorty (eds.), The Later Works 1925-1953, vol. 8. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (tr. it. Come pensiamo, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2019).
Frega, R. (2008), Introduzione a J. Dewey, Logica sperimentale. Teoria naturalistica della conoscenza e del pensiero. In J. Dewey, Logica sperimentale. Teoria naturalistica della conoscenza e del pensiero. Macerata: Quodlibet, ix-xxxvii.
Gadamer, H.G. (1960/2019), Verità e metodo. A cura di G. Reale e G. Vattimo. Milano: Bompiani.
Garrison, J. (1994), Realism, Deweyan Pragmatism, and Educational Research. Educational Researcher, 23 (1), 5-14.
Godfrey-Smith, P. (2002), Dewey on Naturalism, Realism and Science. Philosophy of Science, 69 (S3), S25-S35.
Godfrey-Smith, P. (2013), Dewey and the Question of Realism. Noûs, 50 (1), 73-89.
Heidegger, M. (1927/1976), Essere e tempo. A cura di P. Chiodi. Milano: Longanesi.
Heidegger, M. (1975/1990), I problemi fondamentali della fenomenologia. A cura di F.-W. von Hermann, A. Fabris, C. Angelino. Genova: Il Melangolo.
Hildebrand, D. L. (2003), Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Koch, A. F. (2020), Il realismo ermeneutico e la leggibilità delle cose. Giornale di Metafisica, 42 (2), 340-352.
James, W. (1890/1950), The Principles of Psychology. New York: Dover.
James, W. (1905), The Essence of Humanism. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 2 (5), 113-118.
Mura, G. (2018), Ermeneutica e realismo. In M.C. Dalfino e R. Pozzo (eds.), Realismo, metafisica e modernità, Roma: ILIESI Cnr, 63-80.
Peirce, C.S. (1903/1965), Pragmatism and Pragmaticism. In C. Hartshorne and P. Weiss (eds.), Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, vol. 5. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 13-131.
Pihlström, S. (2007), The Realism Issue from a Deweyan Perspective. Americana, 3 (2). [Online] Available: http://americanaejournal.hu/vol3no2/philstrom (1/10/2022).
Ryan, X. F. (2022), Philosophers’ Problems: Transaction in Philosophy and Life. In J. Garrison, J. Öhman, L. Östman, Deweyan Transactionalism in Education. Beyond Self-action and Inter-action, London-New York: Bloomsbury, 17-37.
Ryan, X. F. (2011), Seeing Together: Mind, Matter, and the Experimental Outlook of John Dewey and Arthur F. Bentley. Great Barrington: The American Institute for Economic Research.
Saito, Y. (2017), Aesthetics of the familiar. Everyday Life and World-Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Published
2023-01-26
How to Cite
Fiore, A. (2023). Pragmatism, Realism and Hermeneutics. Critical Hermeneutics, 6(2), 235-253. https://doi.org/10.13125/CH/5389
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Articles
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