ABSTRACT
In order to develop a method of conducting political philosophy which overcomes the limitations of Rawlsian ideal theory, this book proposes to build on John Dewey’s work. To this end, this chapter presents and explains Dewey’s rejection of traditional conceptions of the discipline. It does so by engaging with Dewey’s rejection of Ancient and Modern conceptions of philosophy as the purveyor of some kind of absolute Truth, on the grounds that he rejects the spectator theory of knowledge this presupposes. Crucially, this chapter argues that philosophy does not aim for certainty, but for a meeting point between facts and values. It does so by undermining the spectator theory of knowledge, the mind/body split, and the fact/value dichotomy. He thus concludes that philosophy does not have purview over a privileged domain of knowledge.
