Abstract

This work is an inquiry into the nature of knowledge, influenced by the works of John Dewey. Theories which assume that objects of knowledge are given in experience obscure the human agentic qualities which elevate undifferentiated existents to meaningful objects of experience. Failure to acknowledge the value of psychical actions restricts mental effort to operating at the level of recognition, inducing unreflective habits. Operating at the level of recognition is passive, attaching meaning to objects as ends-in-themselves and culminating in an absence of direction for transcendending thinking at the level of recognition to functional thought. ;However, the works of John Dewey--in particular, his formulation of the principles of interaction and continuity of experience in reconstructing philosophy--in addition to facilitating understanding that objects of knowledge are symbolic representations of dynamic events, provide access to the psychical actions which, in relationship to the environment, shape human experience. As suggested by the principle of interaction, transcendence to functional thought is active, employing the analytic and synthetic functions of thinking. ;In this work, thought as function initiates with an analysis of external stimuli, synthesizing an understanding of the interactive nature of legitimized practices as well as acknowledging the wide-ranging and far-reaching events that affect perception. Arriving at the understanding that contemporary behaviors are practices originating in the dynamics of interaction, subjects them to transformational starting points. Transcendence to functional thought proceeds to explicating a self as a functional distinction. Conceptualizing a self establishes a starting point for engaging in practices which either maintain them or progress beyond. ;Explicating a self has implications for transcending particular situations by reflectively observing behaviors. In addition to the implications it has for understanding the complex interrelationships which condition human experience, engaging the analytic and synthetic functions of thinking is a process of organizing human experience so as to effectively participate in the social world by framing purposes and executing them