John Dewey: Universalism/Contextualism - Professor Green

Universalism/Contextualism

Response from Professor Judith Green, Fordham University

"Habits of speech, including syntax and vocabulary, and modes of interpretation have been formed in the face of inclusive and defining situations of context ... We are not explicitly aware of the role of context just because our every utterance is so saturated with it that it forms the significance of what we say and hear ... Now thought lives, moves, and has its being in and through symbols, and, therefore, depends for meaning upon context as do the symbols ... I should venture to assert that the most pervasive fallacy of philosophic thinking goes back to neglect of context." (John Dewey)

Source: Reconstructing Dewey Today
Dewey-Center Köln

Category:

Education

Tags:

• john
• dewey
• universalism
• contextualism
• pragmatism
• neo-pragmatism
• philosophy
• judith
• green