Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

  I discussed in two earlier posts the broad argument of John Dewey's book, HOW WE THINK, introducing a philosophical foundation for a theory of education in which schools have the goal of teaching how to think critically.  This week I would like to focus three posts on a single important, though rather dry, issue within that book. What are concepts and how are THEY formed?  According to Dewey, a conception is simply "a definite meaning which is standardized." As Dewey would have known, William James once offered a two-word statement of the same point, "thingumbob again".  How do we acquire these standardized meanings? Most especially: how do we acquire concepts that may be considered somewhat abstract, where for example the standardized meaning allows for variation?  Dewey offers a nice run-down of the standard account here before offering his own. The standard account (one may call it Baconian) is that a child begins with a lot of different particular things. ...

On a trip through Virginia a few years ago, I picked up a newspaper in the historic town of Appomattox and noticed on the sports page that the teams of Appomattox High School call themselves "The Generals." I bet when they lose, the sportswriters of the towns of the rival team can't help but begin with a lede like this: "The Appomattox Generals surrendered again Wednesday to the Jubreau Devil's crushing linesmen...." Team names are funny things. The Appomattox High School's choice of name seems easy (at least in retrospect) to anyone with even a passing knowledge of US history. Other team names come to seem obsolete with the passage of time, or offensive, or become grandfathered in past our moral sense so that they aren't outrageous only because they've been around for a long time.  My Junior High School's teams were named the "Chargers." What image (if any) comes to your mind when you hear that? A shopper pulling a credit car...