Abstract
I argue that Dewey had a kind of naturalistic or pragmatic epistemology already in his Experience and Nature which constitutes the Pragmatic Epistemology View. Dewey’s naturalistic epistemology is exemplified by his theory of “sense” and “signification” and as such is the first order consequence of Dewey’s second order qualitative naturalism. Instead of the classical epistemological question, “How is knowledge possible anyway, überhaupt?”, Dewey’s pragmatically reconstructed version of it would be “How do we make sense of the world that is around us?” Instead of the classical “theory of knowledge,” Dewey’s pragmatic epistemology can be seen as a theory of sense-making.
Recommended Citation
Leonov, Andrii. "The Epistemological Dimension of Dewey’s Emergentist Metaphysics: Sense and Signification." John Dewey’s Contemporary Continuities: Working Papers from the Center for Dewey Studies Essay Award 1 (Jun 2025): 49-74.