Chapter Two Dewey`s Functional Theory of Inquiry

Critical to Dewey is the foundational baseline of human experience as the pivot point for orienting an inquiry-based epistemology of logic (Hildenbrand, 2003; Shook, 2000). Core to his project is the progressive resolution of a problematic situation toward a more inclusive reconstruction that "satisfies" at some significant existential level. There is an emotional undertone to experience as lived and as reconstructed which can only be "had" rather than "known" in any discriminatingly cognitive sense. It is the dissonance or problematic gap within experience, grounded in biology, but also in society, culture, and psychology, which compels the search for satisfactory resolution, ultimately an aesthetic achievement. The role of inquiry is to adequately identify the dimensions of the problem, plausible steps needed for its proximate resolution through collection and analysis of relevant data, tentative concept (hypotheses) formation, and testing through controlled experimentation that evaluates the mettle of the proposed resolution toward the establishment of a satisfactory conclusion.

The resolution, a judgment, what Dewey (1938/1991) refers to as a warranted assertability, is subject to further modification as new conditions emerge. An underlying quest is Dewey`s search for what he refers to as "intellectual organization ...on the ground of experience" (Dewey, 1938/1963, p. 85) based on a metaphysical faith that experience is something graspable by thought, notwithstanding an ineffable qualitative essence that defies description, unless there is some moving beyond it. The tensions in Dewey`s project between the metaphysics of experience and explanation is attenuated by the processive teleology that grounds his project in an expanding social universe in which reconstruction is a critical aspect of human fulfillment. Even as what is "had" cannot be explained, but only experienced, what was had can, as the present is perpetually transformed into the past.

Although there is an inherently unstable aspect to this project, the underlying assumption is that stability itself, gained through controlled or competent inquiry, aesthetic accomplishments, and participatory engagement, is a genetic property of human experience, both to be established as well as found in a world that in many respects remains precarious and uncertain. For Dewey, the purpose of inquiry, and more broadly, the human vocation, is to help create this more desired experience, an aspiration of perpetual growth, which can never be fulfilled, or capable of transcending the realm of values. To this existential challenge, he recommended scientific inquiry as a critical instrument toward the progressive fulfillment of establishing more desirable reconstructions that cumulatively builds the human enterprise.

Logical Forms Accrue in and Through Inquiry

Dewey`s project is grounded in the reasoned logic of human experience. Particularly troublesome to him were philosophical assumptions based on a priori methodologies and corresponding assumptions of human epistemology. On this he sharply criticized idealists, rationalists, and positivists alike for evading the fundamental challenge of linking philosophical science to the requirements of life and to the possibilities of human flourishing within the context of concrete situations. Notwithstanding the criticism, Dewey drew heavily from the various schools of thought that he opposed, which resulted in a creative fusion that characterized his pragmatic vision.