JOHN DEWEY SOCIETY at SAAP 2017: Call For Participation
The John Dewey Society calls for proposals for its panel on Creative Democracy: The Task Before Us in the Era of Clinton v. Trump, to be held at the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP) at Birmingham, AL , March 16-18 2017.
What are the challenges to a vibrant and healthy democratic life? In an essay late in life, Creative Democracy – The Task Before Us, Dewey calls upon us to not take democratic life for granted. More than a political institution, Dewey sees democracy as dependent upon family, friendship, the economy, and other parts of the fabric of civil society.
Today, in many countries, institutions of democracy are being threatened by growing inequality, mistrust of the other, and poverty. It is a time to return to Dewey’s text to consider how democratic life can be fostered amidst these challenges.
The following topics are based on Dewey’s essay and are meant to prompt ideas about suitable papers, and not be prescriptive or exhaustive.
- The meaning of democracy as a personal or individual way of life today;
- The effects of globalization, information technologies and robotics on democratic institutions;
- Failure of effective political representation in post-industrial democratic oligarchies;
- The 2008 global economic downturn today’s democratic institutions;
- The Big Lie, post-truth, and the media;
- Creative directions for the U. S. two party system after Clinton v. Trump.
Please send proposals (500 words, maximum) to Leonard J. Waks, President, The John Dewey Society, at ljwaks@yahoo.com by midnight Eastern time, Friday, December 22, 2016.
