John Dewey. A Philosophy for Times of Crisis.

The complexity and immensity of the current crisis makes it difficult to reflect upon it from a purely philosophical standpoint. The very nature of the object of discussion and reflection seems to call for a multidisciplinary effort, involving economics, sociology, psychology, and environmental sciences. This call does not mean that philosophy should be silent about the crisis. A recollection of what has been written and said in the past about this type of problem could be useful. The present article will not sketch a history of past ‘philosophies of crisis’. Rather, attention will be focused on the way in which the American philosopher John Dewey reflected upon the crisis of his times, trying to single out its causes and to point explicitly to a positive solution. Dewey proposed a complex approach, involving philosophy, history, economics, science, and technology. Specifically, his attempt aims at integrating two dimensions that are rarely discussed together: a long-term historical and philosophical perspective on the background factors of the crisis and a concrete account of its social and economic aspects. The first part of this paper aims at reconstructing Dewey's complex theory of the crisis by focusing on its historical, economical and political aspects. This reconstruction will include a discussion of Dewey's writings concerning the theme of the crisis, from the early 30's (e.g. Individualism, Old and New and “The Need for a New Party” ) to the early 40's (“The Crisis in the Human History”). I will also briefly compare Dewey's position with that of Edmund Husserl, based on his writings on Krisis. I will draw particular attention to the multifaceted nature evident both in Dewey's approach to understanding the crisis, and in his proposed solutions. Specifically, Dewey takes into account both the need to reconstruct collective and public intelligence by following the model of scientific communities, as well as the more immediate need of a political answer to the crisis by means of the construction of consensus. In the final part of the paper, I will discuss the possibility of reinterpreting Dewey’s complex thesis in order to deal with the contemporary crisis.