Abstract

American society is challenged by a double commitment. On one hand, many in America are committed to respect for social diversity; on the other, many of these same people are also committed to the need, at times, to choose a single course of social action. This double commitment sometimes leads to apparently intractable problems where any choice seems to fail to respect what is of worth in the alternatives. The purpose of this work is to develop, defend, and apply a conception of philosophy which provides a means to resolve broad conflicts within a society committed both to respect for difference and the need for decisive action. The conception I offer extends from the one proposed by John Dewey. I develop a conception of philosophy for a pluralist America by proposing an interpretation of Dewey's conception as grounded in his understanding of the process of knowing, "the theory of inquiry." I argue that the theory of inquiry provides a framework for decisiveness in resolving social conflicts while it also provides a means for maintaining respect for difference. I extend Dewey's conception of philosophy by placing the underlying theory of inquiry in a context where inquirers are committed to respecting difference and by reformulating the subject matter of philosophy to include conflicts which emerge from the commitment to decisiveness and respect for difference. In order to clarify the conception of philosophy I propose, I compare it with the analytic conception of philosophy offered by Dewey's contemporary, Bertrand Russell. For Russell, philosophy is best understood as an attempt to answer "ultimate questions" for their own sake and is grounded in an analytic theory of knowing. The contrast with analytic philosophy helps to illustrate how my version of Dewey's conception of philosophy operates and how it, rather than analytic philosophy, is compatible with the double American commitment. I conclude my discussion by applying the contrasting conceptions of philosophy to the problem of choosing what is to be taught in American colleges and universities when they are committed to offering a multicultural education