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John Dewey and Moral Imagination: Pragmatism in Ethics

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The Big Question, as any novice taking Ethics 101 knows, is "How ought one live?" But unless one thinks about what a moral experience is, or how we make sense of it, one cannot adequately answer that question. And while ethical principles are an indispensable part of ethical decision making, they are too often taken as much more than a part-i.e., as wholly sufficient. This imbalanced view usually leads to inflexibility and dogmatism. What we need instead, Fesmire says, is understand how imagination is integral to the way we actually make concrete choices in lived situations. And Fesmire does just that: by delving into the ways our social and historical connections help form our character and our beliefs; by showing that when we deliberate about a choice, we do so in a way that is imaginative and dramatic; and by showing how we can reconceive of moral conduct by interpreting it along more aesthetic and artistic lines.

This is an excellent book, both scholarly and readable. The book's mechanics are beautifully done, and there's a thorough bibliography and index. Fortunately, Fesmire is not an insular scholar, content with limning just the American tradition; he's a philosopher who has thought carefully about ethical approaches across multiple traditions and then explains where the shortfalls are-and why. His explorations of the imagination are done with care and style and they connect back to the ethical realities in which we all have to live and choose.

It's gratifying to see that the resurgent interest in pragmatist epistemology (that has accrued over the past twenty years) is finally blossoming in ethics. Along with recent books by William Caspary and Todd Lekan, Fesmire's book will help those who know pragmatism-and those who don't-to understand the resources and promises of pragmatism as equipment for living.