PROCEDIMENTALES:

Darwinist thinking has had a strong influence on pragmatist ideas (see Efron 2011; Schulkin 2011). From Darwin’s theories, pragmatism has derived large parts of its understanding of the importance of adaptability, open-mindedness and experimentalism. Among the pragmatist thinkers, John Dewey has engaged with Darwin's theory of evolution most profoundly. In his article “The Influence of Darwinism on Philosophy” Dewey makes clear how Darwin “introduced a mode of thinking that in the end was bound to transform the logic of knowledge, and hence the treatment of morals, politics, and religion” (Dewey 2011, 141). The traditional view that ruled philosophy before Darwin is characterized by Dewey through the central role of purposefulness.

“Purposefulness accounted for the intelligibility of nature and the possibility of science, while the absolute or cosmic character of this purposefulness gave sanction and worth to the moral and religious endeavors of man. Science was underpinned and morals authorized by one and the same principle, and their mutual agreement was eternally guaranteed ” (Dewey 2011, 145; emphasis added).

Darwin's works did away with this view and shifted the work of science and philosophy to a new level:27 _{“Philosophy forswears inquiry after absolute origins and absolute finalities in order to}

explore specific values and the specific conditions that generate them” (Dewey 2011, 146). This is also true for the idea of history as Dewey understands it: “History, as viewed from the evolutionary standpoint, is not a mere collection of incidents or external changes, which something fixed (whether spiritual or physical) has passed through, but is a process that reveals to us the conditions under which moral practices and ideas have originated” (Dewey 1902, 113). In other words, what

27 _{Dewey has no illusions that such a profound shift may take longer than desirable. He builds this insight}

on the pragmatist concept of beliefs and habits: “Old ideas give way slowly; for they are more than abstract logical forms and categories. They are habits, predispositions, deeply engrained attitudes of aversion and preference” (Dewey 2011, 148).

Dewey takes away from Darwin is the general idea of adaption:

“The significance of the evolutionary method in biology and social history is that every distinct organ, structure, or formation, every grouping of cells or elements, is to be treated as an instrument of adjustment or adaptation to a particular environing situation” (Dewey 1909, 15).

Dewey even wrote a dedicated entry in The Cyclopedia of Education (published 1911) where he defines two different forms of adaption: passive and active. Passive adaption is a state where only the mere adjustment to given circumstances takes place. Active adaption, which Dewey also labels “continued growth”,28 _{on the other side “means that the individual does not accommodate himself to}

his environment, but takes the initiative in modifying it to make it over into accord with his own desires and purposes” (Dewey 1911a, 35).

For humans, the process of evolution and adaption should not be understood as a simple stimulus- response system in which we only can react to the cruel perils of nature and an uncertain and permanently changing environment (passive adaption). Although Dewey wrote that we live in a “world of hazards” (Dewey 1990, 3) he emphasizes that mankind has the ability to improve its conditions (even in times of crises and catastrophes) since it holds the potentials of intelligence and creativity (active adaption). For (political) crisis management this is a crucial and often overlooked point that Dewey highlights here. Karl Weick has emphasized the same idea in his concept of “enactment” (Weick 1988). Both for Dewey and for Weick, humans are able to influence a crisis through their actions, for the better or the worse. In such a pragmatist conception of human action crisis management can lead to both failure or success.

Consider the example of the economic crisis which started in 2008: Even without deciding if the economic crisis was caused by too much or too little regulation it is clear that it was a man-made system that caused the problems. The crisis, which in this Darwinian context is just a word for a disruptive change in the environment, has been produced by an environment that was designed by man. This is not overly surprising since humans have to act in a highly uncertain context with imperfect information all the time and are anything but infallible. What is crucial according to

28 _{Growth for Dewey, as he explains in Experience and Education, is closely connected to a principle of}

continuity. Growth (or progress/development as one might also say) takes place when it opens the way for new steps and doesn't limit further growth. It doesn't take place when possibilities are cut off and further adaption isn't possible anymore, when – to put it colloquially – a dead end is reached. According to Dewey it is is the prime task of education to promote and enable this form of growth. By enabling growth it continuously has to be evaluated along the lines of this question: “Does this form of growth create conditions for further growth, or does it set up conditions that shut off the person who has grown in this particular direction from the occasions, stimuli, and opportunities for continuing growth in new directions” (Dewey 1938a, 36).

Dewey, is how we meet such situations of heightened uncertainty. His argument, in essence, is that our reaction should be informed by a general spirit of flexibility and adaption. More specifically, our reaction should follow a pragmatist theory of crisis management (as it will be more fully developed in section 2.5) that builds on anti-dualism, fallibilism, experimentalism and deliberation. What a response to a crisis shouldn't do is to rule out any possible solutions a priori on the ground of certain eternal beliefs, principles or ideologies. This is how Dewey understands progress and growth: as the successful overcoming of crises and disruptions. Drawing on Darwinism he points out how being human is not about moving toward an end but about survival and continuous movement.