중기와 후기 듀이에서 반성적 사고의 일관성

Consistency of Reflective Thinking in Dewey’s Middle and Later Works

The purpose of this paper is to justify that ‘reflective thinking’ in Dewey’s philosophy continued until his later years. Of course, it cannot be denied that “Qualitative Thought”(1930) provided considerable insight to researchers in philosophy and the philosophy of education. Dewey’s approach emphasizes the “immediate presence of quality,” which is the background, starting point, and regulative principle of thinking. As such, qualitative thinking must have deepened his concept of thinking. However, technical terms such as qualitative thought are not emphasized nor appeared in Dewey’s later works. This is primarily because qualitative thought was, above all, one stage or aspect included within reflective thought. And, Dewey’s reflective thinking signifies the establishment of beliefs grounded through conscious and voluntary effort or better way of thinking. In other words, we should not make the category mistake of understanding reflective thinking as ‘reflection’ in our everyday language. Furthermore, another reason why ‘qualitative thought’ is not emphasized in later works is that the paper “Qualitative thought”(1930) may have been raised not primarily to deepen the details of reflective thought but also in the discourse dimension related to logic.