Smith, John - The Reconception of Experience in Peirce, James and Dewey

02/01/2013

America's Philosophical Vision, Ch 1, University of Chicago, 1992

This is a paper given as an address at a conference and is basically a summary of the three conceptions of the concept of experience given by Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. The goal is to show their reactions to and departures from the British Empiricist tradition and Kant. Author first gives a summary (or caricature) of traditional empiricism (pg18-19) and then a congealed response from the Pragmatists (pg19-20).

Author reviews and condenses the views on "experience" starting  with Peirce (pg20-25), then James (pg25-29), and then Dewey (pg29-34). Generally, the main contentions against British Empiricists are as follows: "experience" isn't a passive exercise but an active process between the self and the world, perhaps even eliminating the subject/object distinction, and: "experience" is best conceptualized not as atomistic bits to be used as a foundation for knowledge but instead as a rich mix of the sensory and the rational.