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John Dewey, the former Hegelian, having got rid of the Hegelian religion and fearing to adopt a different one said that the guarantee of not doing that wound be constant growth as the absolute value of life.

Frank Hubeny
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Sergey Sakhnevich
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    Interesting thought and I have got a broad idea of what you mean, but could you please flesh out the background? Not everyone is aquainted with Dewey's early works ("constant" growth isn't very common in his works, is it?) and especially not his works on education. – Philip Klöcking Dec 13 '16 at 14:21
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    Ok! I will within a particular period of time having come home. – Sergey Sakhnevich Dec 13 '16 at 14:28
  • Experience and Nature, John Dewey and Education Outdoors – Sergey Sakhnevich Dec 13 '16 at 15:32
  • John Dewey's Philosophy of Spirit, with the 1897 Lecture on Hegel – Sergey Sakhnevich Dec 13 '16 at 15:37
  • And the lectures of Lawrence Cahoone – Sergey Sakhnevich Dec 13 '16 at 15:46
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    I have got the impression that growth is exactly a concept of a common and natural process that is ontologically basic, i.e. that body and mind of an individual grow and evolve in nature and naturally, whereas when it comes to history in a more abstract sense the concept is only used figurative (e.g. Experience and Nature, 1929, p.276 where whe shifts to "history of nature" and "evolution" as "substitute for growth"), i.e. very different from Hegels history spanning Geist. Therefore, editing the question and actually providing an argument that makes the claim reasonable would be fabulous. – Philip Klöcking Dec 13 '16 at 16:25
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    Hegel's Geist dialectizes the world out of itself along a path of "absolute necessity", and hence in a way pre-contains it. [Dewey was an anti-necessitarian](https://books.google.com/books?id=e_CxRsMZ-6oC&pg=PA196&lpg=PA196&dq=dewey+tychism&source=bl&ots=o9WnXTl_Ry&sig=SBb45uzHBSvX6qCh0SXmlsAiyLU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpw4P3_vHQAhVGDiwKHQmtAA8Q6AEIODAG#v=onepage&q=dewey%20tychism&f=false), perhaps even more so than Peirce or James. Dewey's Growth, contingent and spontaneous, is not a traditional Absolute at all. – Conifold Dec 13 '16 at 20:26
  • What Dewey is saying is : In morality there is no end point, no ultimate criterion, they are limited goods. All there is is Growth, improvement but there is no perfect end to shoot for. – Sergey Sakhnevich Dec 14 '16 at 12:30
  • So constant growth! Naturalistic Hegelian so to say. – Sergey Sakhnevich Dec 14 '16 at 12:31
  • ...the growth of a new self... Experience and Nature p. 246, the growths of all persons supplies the ultimate moral ground for the superiority of democracy. ...to fulfill the moral criterion of the genuine community : that all people pursue their personal growth... .... The essential engine of it's never-ending growth. Hegel's method allows for unity in difference, a unified society in which the uniqueness of individuals is not merely tolerated but is essential to society's continual growth. 1897 lecture on Hefel – Sergey Sakhnevich Dec 14 '16 at 12:50
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    I see some pondering and some interesting philosophical lines. I am not sure I see, however, a question that fits with the guidelines of philosophy.SE (qua stackexchange site). What is the question that **we as a community could answer for you**? – virmaior Nov 02 '18 at 06:36
  • @virmaior. I share your reservation about the question. – Geoffrey Thomas Nov 02 '18 at 10:02
  • If I understand Dewey correctly then he seems to be correct about this. If we do not reduce change, growth and process to a prior state then we are stuck with change, growth and process as absolutes and must be content with a non-reductive theory. But I do not know Dewey and may be misconstruing his remark. –  Nov 03 '18 at 14:05

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