John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue

I offer an interpretation of John Dewey and Reinhold Niebuhr that highlights the role of virtue in the visions of democracy that both writers articulated. Based on this interpretation, I argue that Dewey and Niebuhr both implied that virtue is necessary for democracy to thrive, despite the fact that...

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Main Author: Morris, Daniel A.
Other Authors: Cates, Diana Fritz
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: University of Iowa 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6224
https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7556&context=etd
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spelling ndltd-uiowa.edu-oai-ir.uiowa.edu-etd-75562019-10-13T04:48:16Z John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue Morris, Daniel A. I offer an interpretation of John Dewey and Reinhold Niebuhr that highlights the role of virtue in the visions of democracy that both writers articulated. Based on this interpretation, I argue that Dewey and Niebuhr both implied that virtue is necessary for democracy to thrive, despite the fact that they spent much of their careers in intellectual conflict with each other. Specifically, I claim that they were both committed to the value of humility and mutuality for democratic society. Humility and mutuality are virtues with profound importance for democracy that logically flow from Dewey's framework of American pragmatism and Niebuhr's Augustinian Christian theology. I argue that their ironic and unnoticed commitment to humility and mutuality as democratic virtues helps us to understand their shared critique of capitalism. For Niebuhr and Dewey, the democratic self stands in contrast with the capitalist self: the moral agent required and rewarded by capitalism is one who is severely deficient in humility and mutuality. I contend that the conception of democratic virtue that Dewey and Niebuhr shared, which informed their common critique of capitalism, led them to revise socially-inherited notions of property ownership, enact political solidarity with the working class, and support the struggles of labor unions. This virtue-ethical interpretation demonstrates that two writers with deeply conflicting worldviews can both hold that democracy and capitalism are irreconcilable at the level of the moral agent. 2012-05-01T07:00:00Z dissertation application/pdf https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6224 https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7556&context=etd Copyright © 2012 Daniel A. Morris Theses and Dissertations eng University of IowaCates, Diana Fritz Capitalism Democracy John Dewey Reinhold Niebuhr Virtue Religion
collection NDLTD
language English
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Capitalism
Democracy
John Dewey
Reinhold Niebuhr
Virtue
Religion
spellingShingle Capitalism
Democracy
John Dewey
Reinhold Niebuhr
Virtue
Religion
Morris, Daniel A.
John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue
description I offer an interpretation of John Dewey and Reinhold Niebuhr that highlights the role of virtue in the visions of democracy that both writers articulated. Based on this interpretation, I argue that Dewey and Niebuhr both implied that virtue is necessary for democracy to thrive, despite the fact that they spent much of their careers in intellectual conflict with each other. Specifically, I claim that they were both committed to the value of humility and mutuality for democratic society. Humility and mutuality are virtues with profound importance for democracy that logically flow from Dewey's framework of American pragmatism and Niebuhr's Augustinian Christian theology. I argue that their ironic and unnoticed commitment to humility and mutuality as democratic virtues helps us to understand their shared critique of capitalism. For Niebuhr and Dewey, the democratic self stands in contrast with the capitalist self: the moral agent required and rewarded by capitalism is one who is severely deficient in humility and mutuality. I contend that the conception of democratic virtue that Dewey and Niebuhr shared, which informed their common critique of capitalism, led them to revise socially-inherited notions of property ownership, enact political solidarity with the working class, and support the struggles of labor unions. This virtue-ethical interpretation demonstrates that two writers with deeply conflicting worldviews can both hold that democracy and capitalism are irreconcilable at the level of the moral agent.
author2 Cates, Diana Fritz
author_facet Cates, Diana Fritz
Morris, Daniel A.
author Morris, Daniel A.
author_sort Morris, Daniel A.
title John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue
title_short John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue
title_full John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue
title_fullStr John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue
title_full_unstemmed John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, and democratic virtue
title_sort john dewey, reinhold niebuhr, and democratic virtue
publisher University of Iowa
publishDate 2012
url https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6224
https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7556&context=etd
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