Since 2014, in cooperation with the Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois, USA, there has been a research focus on John Dewey at the Department of Philosophy at the University of St. Gallen.
Services for Visitors
Through the university library there is access to the complete works of John Dewey as well as to valuable secondary literature. The workspace is equipped with a computer that provides access to the electronic edition of The Collected Works of John Dewey, The Correspondence of John Dewey, and Works About Dewey. The material as well as the workspace are freely accessible to visitors during library hours.
Activities
There are workshops dedicated to developing John Dewey’s philosophy for the challenges of the 21st century – to the ‘Future of Philosophy’ as Dewey would have it.
- 2025: Fifth European Pragmatism Conference in St. Gallen from August 20 to 22, 2025. Please find all the information here.
- 2022: Panel at the Fourth European Pragmatism Conference in London in August 2022. The panel’s topic was “Social Progress and Radical Change”. The speakers were Isabel Kaeslin (Fribourg), Cedric Braun, and Michael G. Festl (both St. Gallen).
- 2022, June 9-11: International Conference "Democratic Education Revisited". The Event’s Program, featuring distinguished speakers from the USA and Europe, can be downloaded here.
- 2019, June 6-8: International Conference titled «The Reception of American Pragmatism in Europe». Federica Gregoratto and Michael Festl were responsible. The Event’s Program, featuring distinguished speakers from the USA and Europe, can be downloaded here. Based on the Conference the following book was published: Pragmatism and Social Philosophy edited by Michael Festl.
- 2016The issue 5/2016 of Deutsche Zeitschrift fuer Philosophie hosts a special feature on “Pragmatism as a Theory of Global Justice” (“Der Pragmatismus als Theorie globaler Gerechtigkeit”). Michael Festl (St. Gallen) and Jan-Christoph Heilinger (Munich) are responsible for the special feature. It includes essays by Molly Cochran (Oxford), Daniel Bray (Melbourne), Michael Festl (St. Gallen) and Jan-Christoph Heilinger (Munich). These contributions go back to the inaugural workshop from April/May 2015 (please see below).
- 2016, November 25th and 26th: Workshop “The Future of Pragmatism”. Organized by Dr. Michael Festl (St. Gallen) and Michael Räber (Zurich).
- 2015: The inaugural workshop "Justice and Cosmopolitanism: A Conversation Between Pragmatists and Rawlsians" took place on April 30th and May 1st, 2015. More information about the workshop can be found here.
Dewey Lecture St. Gall
Furthermore, since 2017 the ‘Dewey Lecture St. Gall’ has taken place which hosts an annual talk on Pragmatism delivered by a young scholar.
- Dewey Lecture 2022: May 18th: Dr. Michael Räber (Zurich): «Aufmerksamkeit und Vermittlung. Der Beitrag des Pragmatismus zu einer kritischen Medienphilosophie“ (Attention and Placing. Pragmatism’s Contribution to a Critical Media Philosophy).
- Dewey Lecture 2019: October 23rd: Frithjof Nungesser (Graz): «Die Sozialität des Handelns. Eine Rekonstruktion und Aktualisierung von George Herbert Meads Sozialtheorie» (The Sociality of Action. A Reconstruction and Actualization of G.H. Mead’s Social Theory).
- Dewey Lecture 2018: November 21st: Dr. Tullio Viola (Berlin): «Artikulation und Bedeutung. Die Symboltheorie im Pragmatismus» (Articulation and Meaning. The Theory of Symbols in Pragmatism).
- Dewey Lecture 2017: October 4th: Dr. Ana Honnacker (Hannover): „Sympathy for the devil. Zum Problem des Bösen aus der Perspektive des philosophischen Pragmatismus“ (On the Problem of Evil from the Perspective of Pragmatism).
Contact
For any requests or concerns please do not hesitate to contact Michael Festl.
