|
A short essay
By Larry Hickman
Director of the Center for Dewey Studies
Professor of Philosophy
at Southern Illinois University |
One of the most important things I have learned, and perhaps one of the most
difficult to put into practice, is that most judgments about a person's tend to
be premature. By this I mean that bad behavior on the part of others may not be
indicative of bad character. Once we come to appreciate the role of change and
novelty in human experience, and the marvelous plasticity of human mind, then no
judgment about a person's character can be final until they are dead (and in
some cases, not even then).
This is not to deny that there are people who
exhibit pathological behavior as they interact with their fellow human beings.
It is a notorious fact that people lie, steal, and worse. My point is instead to
stress the ever-present possibility of new beginnings - the reality of fresh
starts.
Some religious people call this re-birth. Some non-religious
people call it redemption, or even re-inventing oneself. Regardless of what
words we use, however, it is important to recognize potential for change and
renewal in ourselves as well as others. For it is only under such circumstances
that we will be able to confront our own mistakes - and even bad behavior - in
ways that can promote personal growth. And it is only under such circumstances
that we well be able to relate to others in ways that promote the growth of
communities, and thus communal efforts.
Larry Hickman is Director of the Center for Dewey Studies and Professor of
Philosophy at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. He is the author of
Modern Theories of Higher Level Predicates and John Dewey's Pragmatic
Technology, as well as the editor of Technology as a Human Affair and The
Correspondence of John Dewey: Volume 1, 1871-1918. Professor Hickman has
published articles and essays on a wide variety of topics, including education,
environmental ethics, gay and lesbian rights, medieval logic, American
pragmatism, and film criticism.
The Center for Dewey Studies: http://www.siu.edu/~deweyctr/ |
|
