Dewey's Pragmatism Political Philosophy Research

Dewey put forward his own social and political philosophy in the process of thinking aboutvarious social problems occurred during the American social transformation in the late19thcentury and the early20thcentury. He absorbed the thoughts of Hegel, Darwin, and James andthen built up his own philosophy of “experience”. Moreover, Dewey also built up his ownpragmatism political philosophy ideological system based on the theory of the philosophy of“experience”. The core of Dewey’s political philosophy is the rebuilding of the concept of“democracy”. This thesis mainly focuses on Dewey’s idea of “democracy” and explores deeperabout his political philosophy.At the time of the May4thMovement broke out in China, Dewey gave lectures in China topromote his philosophy, pedagogy and the social and political philosophy. Therefore, Deweybecame one of the most familiar western thinks to us in Chinese academic field. However, theold saying goes:“knowing means knowing nothing.” Due to the influence of “left” political lineduring the period of finishing the founding China, we once considered, in general, his idea as the“imperialist” philosophy and then criticized it. We actually had a great misunderstanding ofDewey’s philosophy. This thesis studied Dewey’s political philosophy objectively and justly onthe basis of restudying Dewey’s ideology in order to provide reference about the currentconstruction of the harmonious society in China.According to the background of Dewey’s pragmatism political philosophy and thetheoretical basis, the article revealed the social and historical roots of Dewey’s politicalphilosophy and the origin of theory. Dewey’s “experience” philosophy is the theoreticalfoundation of political philosophy. His “experience” philosophy is the theoretical base ofpolitical philosophy. Dewey reconstructed the concept of “democracy” on the basis of the theoryof “empirical method” and “experimentalism”, which made “democracy” have multiplemeanings and showed the uniqueness of his political philosophy. We discussed the main idea ofthe Dewey’s pragmatism political philosophy, including Dewey’s thought of new“individualism”, the idea of “democracy to be a way of living”,“democracy and education” and“democratic community”. Dewey’s political philosophy had a great influence on the United Stateand the whole world. Therefore, this thesis discussed Dewey’s political philosophy in the UnitedStates and its impact in China and other countries. Finally, in the comparison and analysis aboutDewey and Marx’s political philosophy, we illustrated the similarities and differences, revealedthe limitations of Dewey’s political philosophy and its contemporary value.