John Dewey: A Commentary
One can be particularly interested in several different strands of John Dewey's philosophy and yet always be close to his architectonic theme of "experimental intelligence," in which variety and unity are so closely connected.1 In this essay we shall be interested in his views of social reconstruction, defending him against some criticisms while, at the same time, adding our own and reinforcing C. Wright Mills' criticism of Dewey written in the middle 1950s.2 We shall, so to speak, bring Mills' argument up to date by reformulating it in subsequent economic eras; we shall claim that while elites do place insurmountable obstacles in the reconstruction of society, there are areas nevertheless where reconstruction has a chance to succeed.