North Central Sociological Association 2009 Ruth and John Useem Plenary Address

C. Wright Mills frequently referred to the tradition of sociological thinking as the intellectual foundation of the social sciences. He recognized, however, that though the classical thinkers understood the social and political structure of whole societies quite well, they had comparatively little to say about how the actual processes by which forms of social consciousness emerge. He therefore recognized the urgent need for a social psychology grounded in sound principles. Those principles, in his judgment and in mine, were best formulated by the American pragmatists: Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead. It was Charles Sanders Peirce who founded the American philosophical movement called pragmatism from the Greek word pragma, meaning action, practice, practical. He introduced die term in his first published article titled, to Make Our Ideas Clear. Somewhat later, John Dewey proposed that the aim of a good democratic education is to create a questioning individual. So our primary aim is to explore the means by which we can achieve clarity in our ideas and educate ourselves and our students toward the ideal of and self-critical thinking. Peirce himself suggested that another appropriate name for his pragmatic approach is critical commonsensism, so don't be surprised if the things I have to say are commonsensical. He begins his brilliant investigation with the concept of beliefs, which, he says, are really rules for action. Our beliefs are belief-habits. And like all habits, some have good for oneself and for others, while other habits have the opposite effect. That is why our mothers urged us to learn good habits and break the bad ones. Habit and consequences are, therefore, key concepts for the pragmatists. However, long before Peirce coined the term pragmatism, the pragmatic approach was evident in the classical tradition of social and political thought. Aristotle, for example, recognized that we are not born with virtues. Nature endows us with the capacity to learn the virtues and to know how to strengthen the virtues by means of habit. How do we become good or virtuous? There is only one way, says Aristotle. We become morally virtuous by forming the good habit of acting rightly. Aristotle demonstrated that we acquire and perfect the virtues by actually practicing them. We become just by doing just acts; we become temperate by doing temperate acts; brave by doing brave acts. It is by acting in dangerous situations and forming the habit either of confidence or of fear that we become courageous or cowardly. In a word, our moral virtues are formed in close correspondence with our patterns of action or conduct. Habit, conduct, and are, therefore, directly relevant to the project of becoming questioning individuals ourselves and helping our students to become clear thinkers about the human condition. As Aristotle suggests, it may be a part of our nature to ask challenging questions, as exemplified in the conduct of young children who quite naturally ask: Why? come? Regrettably, however, although it is characteristic of children to ask good questions and to see attempts to deceive them for what they are - as did the child who recognized that the emperor had no clothes - something soon happens in too many cases that inhibits and even squelches the child's natural impulse to ask challenging questions. By the way, impulse, as we shall see, is another key concept for the pragmatists. What is it that inhibits, weakens, or even represses the child's impulse to ask good questions prompted by reflection? The best term for the inhibiting factor is, I think, ideological indoctrination. Certain ideas as dogmas or articles of faith are inculcated, which the child is taught never to question, even though such ideas are contrary to the child's best interest and contrary to the interests of the group to which the child belongs

Association (psychology · Democracy · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Academic Freedom and Politics · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Philosophy · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education

• North Central Sociological Association Presidential Address

  J I Bakker, J I Hans Bakker•Sociological Focus•2011

  Add to list

• Ideology and the development of sociological theory

  Irving M Zeitlin•Ideology and the development of…•1997

  Add to list

• From Human Nature and Conduct (1922)

  John Dewey, Jo Ann Boydston et al.•John Dewey•2025

  Add to list

• Methodology of Social Sciences

  Max Weber•Methodology of Social Sciences•2017

  Add to list

• From Max Weber

  Max Weber, H H Gerth et al.•From Max Weber•2014

  Add to list