Abstract

A striking feature of John Dewey’s philosophical attitude in his later period is that for self-description, he did not prefer the term “pragmatism.” Instead, he employed such isms as “experimentalism” and “naturalism.” In the period in which he moved towards developing his own original philosophy, he even stated that “I reject root and branch to the term ‘pragmatism.’”1 As he was at the time drawn to naturalism, it might be revealing indeed that he rejects “root and branch” to “pragmatism.” Also in the newly released notes for his lectures on social philosophy in China 1919, the word “pragmatism” goes without a single mention.2 The reader does not encounter the creed for a “pragmatist social...