行动的发生:杜威实用主义社会理论的开端

The Genesis of Action:The Beginning of Dewey’s Pragmatist Social Theory

本文从约阿斯对于帕森斯之行动理论的批评出发,集中考察了杜威行动理论的三个独特性:身体性、整体性和目的性。杜威首先认为人类行动必须建立在一个自然基础之上,通过身体表现出来的自然力量是行动得以发生的条件之一。但杜威也反对纯粹机械式的行动解读,他用协调机制取代反射弧理论,揭示出了行动的整体性和互动性。行动的协调机制中包含了杜威对“刺激-反应”的功能划分,解释了人类行动的自觉性和目的性。理解杜威的行动理论,是理解他的教育改革和社会理论的起点,同时也是我们重新理解美国早期社会学传统的开端。

Based on Joas’criticism of Parsons’theory of action,this article focuses on three peculiarities of Dewey’s theory of action:corporeality,integrity,and consciousness.Dewey first points out that human action must be based on a natural basis,and the natural power expressed through the body is one of the conditions of human action.But Dewey also opposes the mere mechanical interpretation of human action,and he uses the co-ordination mechanism to replace the reflex arc theory,revealing the integrity and interactivity of action.The co-ordination mechanism of action includes Dewey’s functional division of“stimulus-response”,which explains the consciousness of human action.To understand Dewey’s theory of action is the starting point for understanding his educational reform and social thoughts,and also the beginning for us to return to the early American sociological tradition.